#brotherly bonding time while they are figuring out what a movie pick

[cienie-isengardu]

Mortal Kombat 1 Behind the Scenes AU: Picking up the right horror movie 

Author’s note: Picking up a right movie for a bunch of traumatized or messed up people is not an easy task, as Tomas just learned 🤣 This is additional part to “Movie night” and may be seen as post “How you ever know stuff like that” in which Bi-Han was cheering Tomas up after the news of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade dating (as Tomas had a serious crush on the actor). As in, brotherly bonding time inspired Smoke to organize movie night for his Lin Kuei family and guests - Shang Tsung is invited so Bi-Han could take part in their fun AND keep an eye on the sorcerer, while Harumi was invited by Kuai Liang since there will be already an outsider (Tsung). Now, Tomas must figure out which movie will be the best while Sub-Zero tells him what TO NOT pick. Here some notes behind Sub-Zero’s warning:

As was established in “How Harumi met Kuai Liang, part 2”, in her youth she witnessed a Vaeternian attack on her family and people. She's not afraid of vampires, but some horror movies may trigger her and Bi-Han and Tomas want to avoid that.

Bi-Han in general is okay with all horror genres but he is not a fan of vampires. Not because of his experiences with Vaerernians, but because he thinks vampires are way overrated.

Tomas thinks vampires are cool mainly because his experiences with Vaeternians are very very limited. Nitara met on film set may be in fact the first Vaeternian he actually met in person. He is in general a big fan of horrors despite his own traumatic childhood. In some way, it actually helps him to deal with trauma. 

Shang Tsung is not allowed to watch any zombie/mutants/gore experiments to NOT GIVE him any more dangerous ideas. Liu Kang would otherwise have a very serious and long talk with both brothers.

(Sektor and Shang Tsung would definitely enjoy the dark and fucked up experiments type of horror).

Kuai Liang, like his brothers, is pretty okay with watching horrors, but he definitely prefers if the monster is something material and killable. Any horror dealing with paranormal and/or haunted places (especially if something like an evil ghost/dead is creeping in the shadows at the end of the movie) may actually freak him out. As was already mentioned in “Lin Kuei Life - when duty calls” mini arc, Kuai Liang has this nightmare about Bi-Han coming on mission and coming back as someone else (the trauma of past-life Bi-Han's death and his resurrection as Noob Saibot). Which is why paranormal horrors affect him much more than others. Bi-Han is mindful of this, because Kuai Liang is always clingy after a freak out.

Sektor and Cyrax are like the most normal of the bunch, so no need to worry about their eventual traumas.

[Earlier posts, from #1 to #52 & update, from #53 to #87][Seeking advice, p. 1] [Seeking advice, p. 2] [Seeking advice, p. 3] [Seeking advice, p. 4] [Seeking advice, p. 5] [Liu Kang's request] [Enlisting Lin Kuei brothers, p. 1] [Enlisting Lin Kuei brothers, p. 2] [Enlisting Lin Kuei brothers, p. 3] [Enlisting Lin Kuei brothers, p. 4] [Enlisting Lin Kuei brothers, p. 5] [Enlisting Lin Kuei brothers, BONUS] [Bi-Han’s advice] [Solution to problems, p. 1] [Solution to problems, p. 2] [Solution to problems, p. 3] [Solution to problems, p. 4] [Solution to problems, p. 5] [Solution to problems, p. 6] [Solution to problems, p. 7 ] [Solution to problems, p. 8] [Solution to problems, p. 9] [Solution to problems, p. 10] [Solution to problems - BONUS][No need for a murder…] [Stick to the script!] [You. Are. Hopeless] [Are you really healed or sneaked away…] [Bi-Han, NO! Unfreeze him!] [The Dating Issues, p.2] [The Dating Issues, p. 3] [The Dating Issues, p. 4] [The Dating Issues - BONUS] [A kettle calling the pot black] [Tell that to my mother] [The first visit of Shirai Family on film set, p. 1] [The first visit of Shirai Family on film set, p. 2] [The first visit of Shirai Ryu Family, p. 3] [Kuai Liang and Harumi’s first date] [Kuai Liang and Harumi’s first date, p.2] [There are no hopeless students, only bad teachers] [Fine, right hand only] [See you soon, Tsung] [Have you ever managed to sell anything to anyone?] [How you even know stuff like that…?] [A traitor to Chaos] [A traitor to Chaos, p. 2] [Movie night] [How Harumi and Kuai Liang met, part 1] [How Harumi and Kuai Liang met, part 2]

[spacehippieface]

I made a bunch of predictions from the announcement and up to the release of The Super Mario Bros Movie, some joking, some half-serious, some for real, and now that the movie’s out, I figured it was time to fully revisit them and see how I fared. SPOILERS AHEAD. I might get review-y.

The Toads will act like Minions and dominate all marketing and merchandise. JOSSED. The Toads are just people. Just mushroom people living their lives in Toad Town.

Bowser will be voiced by an unfitting former A-lister trying to reinvent himself. JOSSED. I’M SO SORRY, I WAS SO BITTER AND WRONG.

He will make jokes and references which will leave the movie dated upon arrival. JOSSED. He is both menacing AND a dork, and it works! His love ballad in the top 100 on iTunes is proof enough there.

The trailers and TV spots will feature copious usage of Van Halen’s Jump. However, this will not be in the movie or its soundtrack album, instead replaced with a vague cover version by Pharrell Williams. JOSSED. The trailers mostly used Black Hydra’s Super Mushroom. The actual licensed pop songs used in the movie were....well, interesting. Choices were certainly made.

The film will perform moderately well at the box office in Europe and America, but will be banned in China and Russia due to a 30 second sequence involving Birdo in a fashion show set to Born This Way. YES AND NO. Birdo is nowhere to be seen, but so far the film is doing VERY well. Russia haven't got it at all, but they're not getting anything new or nice until they stop being dicks in Ukraine.

Despite lacklustre reviews, it will eventually attain a cult following akin to Shrek and include a subculture of people who unironically really want to fuck Kamek. YES AND NO. Critics are slamming it, but fans are having a fine time! However it’s not necessarily Kamek people are eyeing up, but Bowser, when they’re not shipping him with Luigi. Or possibly even when they are.

Before going to the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario and Luigi are going to have some sort of big argument or estrangement, leading them to be separated for the bulk of the movie, only to realise they needed each other and reunite for the final battle with Bowser. YES AND NO. They are separated, yes, and do reunite in the third act, but there's no estrangement. Far from it. Their brotherly bond is just so important to them, and saving Luigi is Mario’s sole motivation on his adventure. They're lost without each other and that's just so sweet. “Nothing can hurt us as long as we’re together”, indeed. 

Bowser will kidnap Peach as a last ditch power grab when whatever’s happening with the Stars goes sour. KIND OF? Bowser only wanted the Super Star in the first place so Peach would be impressed enough to marry him, and when just having the Star doesn’t work out, he manipulates her into marriage by threatening Toad, and by extension all the other Toads. A kidnapping by coercion if you will.

There’ll be a market chase sequence, where Mario will pass Waluigi who’ll let out a long Charles Martinet voiced “waaaaah” and look knowingly at the camera for an uncomfortable few seconds. JOSSED. This is a Waluigi-free zone.

Alternatively, there’ll be a post-credit scene back in Brooklyn where we see Wario, voiced by Charles Martinet, picking his nose and declaring it to be a keeper while Waluigi cleans the toilet in a maid costume and discovers a pipe to the Mushroom Kingdom. JOSSED. That is NOT what we get in the stinger. I still kind of want to see it though, I think it’s a damn funny image.

That classic Super Mario Bros overworld theme is going to be used a lot. Like, we’ll all be sick of it by the end of the movie. YES AND NO. It IS used a lot, but not overbearingly so. There are a lot of other musical nods and motifs from the games, from SMB 1 to Odyssey and then some. The GameCube noise was very nice to hear too. Brian Tyler did a fantastic job on the score.

There’ll be a Minion on the Illumination title card who eats a mushroom and grows too big for the screen. Alternatively, it’ll be a small group of Minions doing an acapella version of the end of level theme. YES AND NO. We do see a Minion, but he’s in a kart ready for a race. I wasn’t expecting that one.

[unsupervisedpanda]

Not according to plan

Liam Dunbar x Reader

This is a one shot where you are Scott's little sister and the pack saves you, and you bond with Liam. I know stupid but hey.

"Y/n hurry up!" Scott hollered up the stairs to his sister, you.

"I'm coming! Coming coming!" You hollered back quickly pulling your sneakers on.

Scott stated that you were coming with him to a pack meeting. Apparently you could be in danger if he left you alone. You sprinted down the stairs slipping down three before catching yourself.

"I'm ready let's go!" You hollered grabbing your backpack and sprinting out the door.

Scott quickly followed you and you both hopped into Stiles' Jeep.

Driving to Derek's didn't take as long as you thought, but his home was pretty isolated and creepy.

"Scott you have some weird friends..." You said taking in the whole houses' appearance. Scott just shrugged and walked up to the porch knocking on the door.

"Derek, it's Scott!" He hollared. A tall man came to the door glaring, and if looks could kill you would so be dead.

"Oo someone is cranky." You teased.

He growled at you. Literally growled. Before you could say or do anything Scott interjected.

"Derek, this is my little sister y/n. Y/n this is Derek." Derek had a look of understanding and then he smirked.

"So you're the little runt Scott and Stiles were talking about! The one that couldn't protect herself!" He looked smug as your face turned red.

Oh yeah you were really pissed, even so you smiled.

"And you sir must be the sour wolf I'm told about who doesn't know when to pull his head out of his ass!" You grinned smugly.

Derek looked pissed but just glared.

"Anyway let's get inside. The pack meeting needs to be started. Immediately." Scott growled a little annoyed.

"Right." Derek grunted turning and walking inside your brother, Stiles, and you following close behind.

"They're here." Derek stated leaning against one of the walls.

"Y/n! It's so nice to see you again!" Lydia shrieked.

You smiled.

"Hey Lyds. Where's Ali?" You inquired tilting your head. It took all she had not to squeal.

"She couldn't make it today but I promise I'll let her know you said hi." You were about to respond when Derek interrupted.

"Listen girls this isn't a reunion. This is serious. So stop jabbing, sit down, and listen." You growled at him your eyes changing from sweet and innocent to ready to kill.

"Look mutt I suggest you don't tell me what to do." You smiled once again and sat down.

The mood change surprised everyone in the room, including your brother, except for one. Liam. He'd seen that side of you before. When a girl was being bullied, you stood up for her. The guys had run away with piss streaming down their legs. He would've laughed had he not known why. He was terrified himself and he was pretty far away.

"Alright! Calm down guys we need to figure out this whole thing. There is something targeting out friends and families and we need to stop them." Scott interrupted Liam's thoughts.

"Right, but do you have any idea what you are looking for or are you just fishing for ideas?" You inquired.

Everyone looked to you and then down slightly shameful.

"Great! You morons were planning on just going in blind and hoping for the best! That wouldn't work and it's reckless and stupid." You exclaimed.

Honestly if they do this all the time how the hell are they still alive and not trying to kill each other?

"Look runt you are only here for your safety so shut your yipping trap." Derek growled obviously pissed you were giving an opinion.

"Okay hot shot what's your big plan then?" you crossed your arms glaring.

He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it.

"Exactly. None of you have a plan. How do you plan to protect your friends and family like that?" You sighed.

They had no answers.

"Okay guys don't pout about it. Work on it. Let's get to work!" You smiled softly, giving everyone a little nudge in the right direction, and a light of hope.

~Le time skip to an hour later~

"Everyone got that?" Scott asked as he looked at everyone in the room.

Soon everyone agreed and knew what to do.

"Great let's hope this works. Y/n let's go." Scott grabbed your backpack handing it to you.

"K Scotty~" you sang skipping out to the Jeep.

"She's cute." Derek grunted to Scott.

"And smart." Lydia added walking out the door.

"Yeah. I'm sure she'd be a great asset to the pack Scott. Keep her safe and close." Derek stated.

Scott nodded and went outside to meet with you and Stiles.

"Let's go home guys." Scott smiled.

Once you arrived at the house it was around 9:00 so you went up to your room and watched some YouTube. Just random videos and somehow you had ended up on a how to talk to giraffes video. You laughed uncontrollably for a while until you heard something at your window making you stop. You looked at your alarm clock. 11:23pm. Where did the time go?

You walked towards the window and looked out your phone gripped tightly in your hand. A snarling something jumped at you from outside scaring you terribly. You fell backwards and your heart raced. Your breathing became labored and you quickly crawled into the hallway.

"Scott! Scott the thing is here and wants to eat me!" Your voice quaked as you slipped into your brothers room.

You looked around but didn't see him. You quickly grabbed the baseball bat in the corner and hid in his closet calling your idiot brother. Bzzz! Bzzz!

"Hello? Y/n?"

"Scotty I swear to God if you don't get your ass here now-" You were cut off by glass shattering in your room.

"Y/n oh my god are you okay? Y/n!?" Scott asked his voice full of brotherly worry.

"Does it sound like I'm okay!? Please hurry!" You trembled.

Scott was about to answer when snarls filled the house. You hung up on your brother and held your mouth trying not to cry. Everyone had agreed to stay in pairs but here you were. All alone.

"Guys! We've got to go! This thing is after y/n! This was a decoy!" Scott yelled.

Everyone looked at him and finished their fights with the decoys, then sprinted to their cars and sped to the McCall's house.

~~~Back to you~~~

The snarling thing soon came to Scott's room sniffing you out. You were terrified. You gripped the wooden bat tighter ready to swing. Soon the closet door which you locked from the inside began to shudder. This thing was trying to get in!

"Oh my god." Your voice broke.

The shuddering immediately stopped. You were tempted to step out, but you'd seen the movies and that never ended well.

"Scott, please hurry." You whispered.

Just as your heart was beginning to calm down the closet door flew off the hinges and that 'thing' stared down at you. Your throat closed, leaving you gasping for air. The creature had spikes surrounding it's body, beady red eyes, rows and rows of teeth, clawed hands, a large hunched over body with a small, boney, skeletal skull. You quickly grabbed the bat and swung. It's head went flying off into a corner of the room. You expected the creature to fall dead, instead it walked over to it's head and picked it up, and placed it back onto it's body, a cracking sound filling the room.

You screamed loudly and ran out of Scott's room, bat still in hand. You rushed down the stairs slipping down them. All of them. Your breath was taken out of your lungs, but you quickly stood up and ran outside. No, you were not going to die like this.

You turned around and looked into the house. The creature was on the roof, beady eyes never blinking at you. Your breath caught in your throat as you quickly turned and sprinted into the woods. As if your luck wasn't bad enough the creature chased after you. That being said you were thankful Scott and Stiles insisted on teaching you how to run and dodge during a chase.

"H-holy hell!" You screamed.

This thing had to be 7 or 8 feet tall. You looked for an escape but saw none except for trees and a highway up ahead. A highway. You ran faster and hoped your judgement was right. As you sped onto the road you saw headlights. The car stopped immediately, but it wasn't any car it was a Jeep.

"Y/n!? What the hell are you doing!?" Stiles exclaimed.

"Running!" You yelled back as you quickly jumped into the back seat.

"Drive. Turn this thing around and DRIVE!" You screamed as the thing came out of the woods after you.

"Holy crap!" Stiles yelled hitting the gas. Scott was sitting in front quickly turned around to face you.

"Y/n, are you okay? How the hell did you out run that!?" He exclaimed as Stiles sped away from what ever that 'thing' was.

"I just ran! It came into the house and tried eating me! I hid in your closet with your bat, and-"

Stiles cut you off.

"Seriously do any of you play baseball!?" You and Scott glared at him.

"No." You both answered with deadpan expressions.

"Anyway! The thing IS STILL FOLLOWING US!" You shrieked as you looked behind you and on to the road.

Stiles took a sharp turn and headed towards the high school.

"Y/n! Does this thing have any weaknesses you could find!?" Scott inquired.

You looked at him your e/c eyes wide in shock.

"None. I knocked it's head off and it just walked over and put it back on." You stated still watching the 7 to 8 foot tall beast follow.

Once you were at the high school you ran to the lacrosse field, Scott and Stiles close behind.

"What the hell! Y/n are you okay?" Lydia quickly checked on you and soon gasped.

"Oh my god." She whispered.

Everyone was looking and you began to panic.

"What? What is it?" You stammered.

"Y/n did the thing touch you at all?" Derek questioned glaring at your back and side.

"No. Not at all I wouldn't let it get close enough." You answered.

"Then why do you have scratches and bruises?" He asked again as if you were guilty of something.

"I-i fell down the stairs. All of them. And also ran through the woods...?" You answered hoping it would satisfy him and his prying eyes.

" Right." You soon realized why everyone was gasping.

In the little time you had fallen your whole back and your ribs were blue and purple and red.

"Ouch!" You yelped when Lydia pressed on your spine.

"Look we don't have time for this the thing is-" you were cut off by a screetching. Everyone turned and saw the spiked beast.

"Still out there." You finished your voice soft.

"Liam! Get y/n out of here! Now." Scott ordered as they all went in for the attack.

Liam grabbed your hand dragging you to the locker room.

"Are you okay? Do you need anything?" He whispered checking you over himself.

"I- I am fine. Promise." You smiled.

In all honesty your back hurt like a bitch and you were worried about your brother. You were also terrified the thing would kill everyone you cared about and then would eat you making you suffer.

"You know I can tell when you are lying." Liam smirked at you softly.

You looked at him and rushed into his arms wrapping your arms around his neck sobbing into his shoulder. He was right you were lying, but after what you had been through who wouldn't be terrified?

Soon Stiles came in for both of you but found you both asleep on the floor in Liam's lap. He reported it to Scott, but they both knew you guys had a home to be too. Scott picked you up and took you to the Jeep, and Stiles woke Liam. Everyone was just ready to go home.

A/n

Soooo whatcha think? Good? bad? Anyway I hope you enjoyed this story! Have a magnificent time you unsupervised critters! 🐾💞

[awhitehead17]

The the prompts: how about some Dick and Tim brotherly bonding? Maybe with some snuggles?

After reading this I had an idea and ran with it. I really enjoyed writing this one and I hope you will enjoy reading it! :D 

Without much thought, Dick opens his bedroom door with a smile and allows Tim to enter his room. His smile quickly falters however when all Tim does is hum in greeting and enters the room wordlessly.

His little brother stiffly walks over to the bed where he promptly faceplants the mattress as soon as he’s in reach of it. He lets out a long groan as he lies there not moving.

After closing the door Dick moves over to the bed and hovers there, observing the scene with both amusement and worry. He doesn’t know what’s gotten into Tim, when they had spoken not three hours ago, Tim had been completely fine and had been extremely excited for their movie night. Obviously something’s happened within that short time frame for Tim to be acting like this.

“Tim? What’s the matter?” He asks eventually when the younger doesn’t offer up an explanation for his actions. Dick immediately wants to fret over him and make sure Tim’s okay, but he’s not yet sure on how his mothering will be taken.

With Tim it’s always between accepting the care instantly and melting into it or he blatantly refuses any form of care and shuts himself away from the world. It depends on the situation really. Until Dick can work out what headspace Tim is in, he’s going to have to wait to see what the best way to approach his younger brother with care and affection is.

Letting out another dramatic groan, Tim flops over onto his back and sprawls out across the bed. His tiny 5’5 body doesn’t take up much room on the king-sized bed that Dick has, it almost looks like the covers are swallowing him whole.

“I’m so sore! How is that even possible considering what we do?”

At hearing this whine Dick allows himself to relax now that he knows it’s nothing major. Tim is just being dramatic. He sits on the edge of the mattress looking down at Tim with a raised eyebrow. “What did you do? You were fine when we spoke earlier.”

Tim groans again and reaches up to cover his face in his hands like he’s ashamed. “I made the mistake of training with Jason today. He was in one of his boot-camp, SAS, moods. My legs no longer function.”

Dick winces at the sound of that. Only once has he even been on the receiving end of that mood from Jason. After that one experience he vowed to make sure it never happened again and by the sight of Tim, he’s glad he’s missed out this time.

Without saying anything he observes his brother a little longer, an idea forming in his head as he does. The plan for them that night is to watch a few movies and binge some snacks and just generally hang out. What Dick is thinking about can still fit into that plan if Tim accepts it.

Instead of voicing his idea to Tim, Dick decides to just go ahead with it. He gets up from the bed and goes over to his draws, after picking out a loose pair of shorts he chucks them at Tim. “Put those on. I’ll be back in a second.”

Ignoring Tim’s questions, Dick heads to his ensuite and digs out a certain kit from the back of the cupboard under the sink. Once he’s got it he goes back to the bedroom and finds Tim still sprawled out over the bed but now with the shorts on.

Tim lifts his head and stares at Dick in question. “What are you doing? Aren’t we going to watch some movies?”

Dick places the kit down on his bedside table and nods. “Yes, but while the movie plays, I’m going to give you a massage. At least your legs, it’ll help with the muscle soreness.”

Tim blinks at him for a long moment like he’s trying to comprehend what Dick had just said. After several beats go by his brother shakes his head. “You don’t need to do that Dick. I’ll be fine.”

Dick hums, not taking any notice in the protest. “While I massage your legs, you can watch the film. Once I’ve done both then we can settle for the evening.”

His brother opens his mouth, probably to protest again, but Dick sends him a look, one that tells Tim he isn’t backing down on this. Knowing that he isn’t going to win, Tim shuts his mouth and waves his hand around, silently gesturing Dick to ‘go ahead’ with it.

After deciding on a film, they put it on and Dick starts massaging Tim’s legs. He takes his time with it, regularly checking in with Tim to make sure he’s not hurting him and that he’s hitting all the correct spots.

Other than the check-ins it’s silent between the two of them, not that there needs to be any conversation between them in that moment anyway. It happens to be a comfortable silence that fills the room, the two of them being at ease with one another which makes it easy to relax.

It wasn’t until Dick finishes right leg and moves onto his left that Tim speaks up, breaking the spell between them.

“How do you know how to massage people?” His voice is soft and seems like it’s almost floating.

At the question Dick glances up at the rest of him to find Tim lying there with his eyes closed and the rest of his body relaxed into the mattress underneath him.

Continuing on with the administrations Dick answers him thoughtfully as he reminisces. “I first learnt about it when I was in the circus. Being acrobats we were quite prone to injuries, so after most training sessions and especially after shows, my parents used to massage one another to help their muscles. My mom used to do it to my dad more than the other way around.

Anyway, of course seeing this I picked up a couple bits here and there. They never did it to me, didn’t need to as I just stretched more than anything and of course being a kid meant I didn’t need it like that.

After I moved to the Manor, I once mentioned it to Alfred that my parents used to massage their muscles after exercise. When mentioned it I was a little older and was already Robin, but Alfred had offered to teach me some in-depth massaging techniques that could be used on the body. It was a thing between us for several years until everything went sideways.

When I moved to Bludhaven I lost track of it and basically dropped it. I had become too busy to focus on that sort of thing. It was when Bruce decided to adopt more kids and I was suddenly gaining a wide range of younger siblings that I picked it back up and even took some professional classes. I figured it was a good opportunity to get back into it and then I can help anyone out in this way if they happen to need it.”

As he works his hands down Tim’s calf Dick gets lost in those memories and the journey of what this skill has taken him through throughout his life.

Tim props himself up onto his elbows and studies Dick, Dick simply blinks back and continues with the task. He’s almost done now. “Guess it’s come in handy now after all.” Tim laughs lightly.

“It’s certainly taken long enough,” he retorts back with a grin. Within minutes he finishes up and pats Tim’s legs. “There you go, all done. You’ll still be sore tomorrow but it hopefully shouldn’t be as bad. Would you like a shower to wash the lotion off or are you good?”

Tim slumps back down on the bed again, a smile adoring his face. “I don’t think I could move even if I tried.”

Dick rolls his eyes but is smiling nonetheless. “Sure. I’m going to go wash my hands and then we can settle down finally.”

Now he’s finished, Dick packs up the massage kit and takes it back to the bathroom to put it away. He washes his hands before heading back to the bedroom to find that Tim still hasn’t moved from his sprawled-out position on his bed. Dick raises an eyebrow at him. “Are you planning on sharing any time soon.”

Tim makes a face before shaking his head. “Na, I’m good thanks.”

“Alright have it your way…” with that Dick promptly falls onto the bed, purposely landing half on Tim despite how big the bed actually is. The action makes the younger squawk in protest and he immediately starts trying to squirm out from underneath Dick.

Dick lets him struggle futilely for several moments before finally moving and allowing Tim to breathe easily once again. He wastes no time in manoeuvring them so they are propped up against the headboard cuddling into each other’s sides.

Tim smacks him in the chest, calling him a jerk but Dick sees the smile he’s attempting to fight off and doesn’t think anything of it. He’ll let Tim keep his dignity (or some of it at least). They settle together and start to properly watch the film which is about three quarters the way through by now.

“Hey Dick,” Tim says getting his attention, when Dick looks down at him Tim is watching him fondly, “thank you. Not just for the massage, which by the way felt amazing, but for sharing about it too.”

Dick ducks his head and presses a kiss to Tim’s hair. “Not a problem Timmy. Thank you for letting me help you.”

Tim smiles but doesn’t say anything more, not that there needs to be more words shared. They aren’t necessary anymore, they know each other well enough by now that their gratitude is there without being said.

The comfortable since returns as they settle into each other’s sides for the rest of the evening watching the movies they have queued and eating all the snacks they brought.

[moonblssm]

everyday job au | bang chan

listen to — Tongue Tied by Grouplove

CHAN | minho | changbin | hyunjin | jisung | felix | seungmin | jeongin

、 preschool teacher!chan

teaches ages 4-5

chan always insists that the kids call him ‘channie-oppa’ or ‘channie-hyung’

“it’s not professional!”

“it’s not, but i’m not that old!”

half the time, he’s teaching seriously (in a fun way; he always makes lessons fun because he dreaded boring classes when he was younger)

the other half?

chan’s basically one with the children

sweetly scolds when one of the students gets hurt - in more of a brotherly way instead of a teacher way as he pulls them into his lap or lifts them up into a table

chan *cradling a little girl after she scraped her knees*

“didn’t i tell you to be more careful?”

other people: is he actually a teacher or is he that girl’s father?

you’ve actually known chan for a while now

you took up a job as his teaching assistant at the preschool almost a year ago

you found out that he was only a year older than you, so it wasn’t surprising how well the two of you clicked like you’ve known each other since high school

ever since the two of you bonded over an evening of setting up decorations for the surprise christmas party for the younglings and some food after, the two of you started a friendship

and a contest of which teacher they liked better

one-upping each other during the school day was a norm for the class, but the two of you knew it was all for fun

“okay everyone who wants to have fun come with channie! everyone who wants to do whatever y/n planned just go over there i guess.”

or

“raise your hand if you want to make ice cream with y/n! okay~ raise your hand if you want to help chan wash the dishes! no one? alright, point for me~”

one day, you and him are just standing at the play yard supervising and chatting with each other about your next outing together when one of the older kids ushers one of the younger students towards the two of you

“go ahead, ask them.”

you know the little girl is one of the shyer students, and your heart can’t help but melt as she plays with the hem of her dress before asking you

you make eye contact with chan before looking at the girl with soft eyes

you don’t notice the way chan looks at you with soft eyes before he follows your movements to listen to the girl’s request

“can you play house with us?”

immediately, you and chan agree because she’s one of those kids who just have that effect on people

so you completely expect yourselves to be fighting over the little girl’s heart as her favorite

“chan help.”

“are you okay?”

“my heart hurts so much, she’s so cute.”

chan: stop being so dramatic

also chan: *clutching his heart*

what you don’t expect is for her to open up to the two of you so quickly and easily and to hear something that makes you guys want to dig yourselves in a hole

one minute, you’re pretending to be setting the table and chan’s at your right peeling an imaginary banana

the next minute, you turn around to see the little girl with the older student acting as a puppy and hear

“mom! dad! can we keep it?”

yours and chan’s heads snap toward each other - faces flushed - and you also don’t expect for chan to ignore the nerves in his body and play along

you and chan’s roles were never established, but the both of you just assumed you were the nanny and the butler

chan doesn’t object to the idea, even going as far as calling you ‘honeybee’ and ‘dumpling’

at one point he even pretends to lean in for a kiss with a smirk, and you only blush and laugh as you push his face away

not that it mattered, you were perfectly fine with him snaking his arms around your waist as you ‘cooked’ at the plastic kitchen

at the end of recess, chan doesn’t let you slip away by catching you by your wrist before you turn to go inside

the way he looks at you reminds you of that same first night you first really got to talking

the decorations for the kids’ party were put up in a lot less time than you thought, so together, you grabbed some dinner at the famous kim family pizza restaurant down the street and brought it up to your apartment for a movie night which was just playing in the background as the two of you ate and talked more than actually watching the movie

they way he listened intently as you described basically your entire childhood, staying focused on everything you were saying and even asking questions when he was more curious at certain points, had your heart beating a little faster than you wanted to

and you can’t help but remember the way you fell asleep with your head against his shoulder - his arm wrapped around your waist as you curled into his body for warmth - as his hand gently keeps his grasp on your wrist

when you turn, you look up at him with those same curious eyes you showed when he talked about his past, about how he always got a long with his siblings, how he always wanted to help out at the daycare he used to go to when he was younger

there was a shine in your eyes that chan couldn’t help but fall for as he talked about what made him make the choice to become a teacher, and he felt so lucky to have someone as passionate as you for an assistant

as soon as the both of you felt like you were falling, the two of you yanked on that parachute of caution to avoid any possible drama that could unfold from an “office” romance

but as the months passed by, it was obvious that your motherly nature and caring methods

and his loving and carefree nature

just worked so well, and there was nothing to stop the oncoming feelings you had for each other

the two of you really did act like you’d known each other since high-school

as sweethearts

sure, your ‘rivalry’ was burning strong to this day

but if anything, you and chan looked like an arguing married couple instead - all the other times, you were sweet to him and he was sweet to you

like the way you always hovered behind him - where he sits at a table - if he needed your help, and you reached your arms around his shoulders to help him

or they way he would even pick you up when you were having trouble getting something from the higher shelves

it was small things like that that led to this very instant as you and chan looked into each other’s eyes, trying to figure out how to make this moment meaningful even when you had to get back to the toddlers you were looking after

the two of you only look into each other’s eyes and you hope that he’ll be the first to speak because you can’t trust what words might come out of your mouth right now

especially not when his hand is sliding down your forearm to interlace his fingers with yours

“we don’t have to be parents yet, of course, but maybe we could put aside this little war we’re having and accept the fate our student decided for us?”

[impala1967dwinchester]

Sam Winchester: A Warm Heart

*Not My GIF* 

Pairing: Sam Winchester x reader, some talk about Dean Winchester

Point of view: Reader and 3rd person  

Warnings: Fluff, reader being sick, Helpful Sam, Cuddles 

Summary: When the reader gets sick and has to stay bedridden. Sam stays behind helping the reader go through the flu, making sure she has everything she needs

Word Count: 1,254 

You see what had happened was...

We had all gone out for drinks, and everything was fine. We drank all night and went back to our motel room afterward. Driving home was the bad part the boys were fine, but being stuck in the back with no room for moving or getting comfortable.

I started to feel sick, and not like I was going to throw up in Deans' car because we all know I’d never hear the end of it. It was more like I was getting chills and then I was hot.

One minute I was taking the flannel that I had stolen off, and the next I was putting a blanket over my entire body. Because of my constant movement in the back, I was getting glances from the rearview mirror, from both Dean and Sam.

Thank god the trip wasn’t a long one. Only an hour before we’d home before I could sleep in my bed, with the air condition at whatever temperature I needed. I just kept telling myself that I just needed a shower.

Finally, I was able to fall asleep the rev of Baby’s engine. I heard someone say something in the front seat, about making sure I was okay, and then someone else said that Cas was out of town so they'd have to do it the old fashion way.

When we got to the bunker I tried to make my way out of the car, but as I did I felt a wave of dizziness come over me slamming me back down into the back seat. Sam was the first one to make sure I was okay, he asked me a few questions but I was so in and out of it that I couldn't even respond. So he just picked me up in his strong arms Dean not far behind him opening the bunker door, probably holding my bags.

Sam tried his best to drop me nicely in my bed. He didn't want to leave me in my boots, tight jeans, and nasty flannel. So he took my boots off with ease, unbuttoned my jeans grabbing a pair of shorts from my drawer, he closed his eyes while he pulled my tight jeans down my small figure. Keeping his eyes closed in an attempt to keep my own modesty. Pulling the shorts up my thighs and ass, then quickly unbuttoning my flannel and changing it out for a tank top.

He placed me under the covers and switched the overhead light off, leaving the side table light on, so if I awake during the night I knew I was home. When day broke the next morning, Sam walked into my room checking up on me. I was still asleep stuck to the covers that were so cold last night.

Sam went around the bunker and the chevy impala looking for anything that would be able to tell them what was up with her. Sam walked back into her room with medicine, water, and some towels. He didn't wake her, wanting her to get all the sleep she needed before she woke and was either still feeling like shit for feeling worse then she did last night.

He left her room after placing some stuff on her night side, and with that, he left her room with the door ajar. He was worried you could say about her, it's not like they didn't get sick but even getting sick was a challenge. They were always everywhere, and nowhere at the same time.

Sam had some time to think about what the 3 of them had done in the past week. They had gone to the bar last night, did a Salt&Burn, we did go to that hospital, we were around all those sick people. Oh god, Sam only thought was that you had caught something while being in the hospital.

When I finally woke up my hair was stuck to my face and I felt like I was living in a sauna. I jumped from the bed hitting the bedside table with my knees causing me the crash down to the floor. I knew I was a bit clumsy but not this much, Sam must have heard the crash from across the bunker walls because within seconds Sam was standing at the door making sure I was okay.

Not a lot of words were spoken between the two of us. Sam helped me off the floor and brought me to the bathroom. "Sam? Did you change my clothes when we got back home?" I asked him. He looked down at the floor and spoke "Yeah, but I will have you know that I didn't see anything I closed my eyes and got you dressed." He said in a hushed almost ashamed voice.

Maybe he should have just left her in the clothes she had on. "Well thank god, I would have wanted to sweat as I did in all those clothes from the hunt," I said. She asked for her towel and took a shower leaving the bathroom door ajar just so if something happened Sam could come in and rescue her.

after her warm shower, Sam was laying in her bed with the tv and a couple of movies to pick from at the top of the search bar of Netflix. she walked over to her side table swallowing whatever pill was sitting there and climbing into the very comfortable bed that Sam was no less overtaking.

She sunk into the comfy sheets. The heat of Sams's body lacing hers, she hummed to whatever Sam had asked her and he played the movie. It was some random movie about werewolves, and vampires fighting over "Holy land" kinda funny she thought living that life where they kill those types of monsters and yet the people that have no clue they exist would make a movie about them.

She had always thought it was funny, but she actually for the first time wanted to watch the movie. About an hour into the movie she asked Sam a question. "Sam, Do you mind if we cuddle?" She was trying to be platonic, but it came off has a need more than a want.

You see the problem with Sam and her relationship was that there was this unspoken care, and love for each other. And it wasn't the type of love and care that Dean and she had that was meant to be more brotherly than anything else. This bond that Sam and her shared was something else.

something that they were both scared of, something that no matter what they would always come back to. A few more words were spoken between the two after her request of cuddling which indeed did happen. Sam had climbed under the covers his body now giving off just the right amount of heat to keep her warm.

"You know Sam, you've got a good heart right." It wasn't a question it was more of a bold statement, and it was one she wasn't going to let Sam take away from himself. "Thank you, y/n. You know I will always be here for you no matter what is going on outside right?" Now that.. that was a warm-hearted person keeping the person he loved overall protected.

They didn't know it yet but the piece to their love story was falling perfectly together. One by one they would end up together saving the world with Sam's older brothers help of course.

[iwatobifuturefish]

Cuddle buddies

Heyho and welcome to this fanfic!

This is a MC x Choi twins story but there is no twincest involved. I just thought that the twins are for sure touch starved and definitely need more cuddles - so here we go.

This also is the first part of the series (I want to write) called "Tales from the bunker and beyond". All stories will focus on cute and fluffy daily life and domestic encounters with MC and the tomato heads.

I hope you enjoy this fanfic! Please leave a comment if you liked it - I would love to read your feedback! :D

Cuddle buddies

Tales from the buker and beyond - Part 1

Pairing: MC x Choi twins

Read here in AO3

It had always been like this. Well, not always. But most of the time, to be correct.

Waking up cuddled up cosy in between the twins was nothing new to MC. She looked at the now peacefully sleeping men beside her and thought about the start of this. A smile crept on her face, remembering some of their sleep-encounters. But how had their now preferred sleeping arrangement and everything that came with it started?

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It was a quiet night in the bunker. Every member of the household (or should she call it “bunkerhold”) was fast asleep in each of their own rooms. Well, except for MC. She was tossing and turning in her bad, tormented by yet another nightmare. They had occurred more frequently over the last couple of days, but the girl did not know why. Her nightmares had always something to do with the twins. Either they were kidnapped by their father, snatched away by Rika, or trapped in the deepest chambers of Mint Eye. With a loud gasp MC opened her eyes and sat up straight in bed. Touching her face, she noticed, that her cheeks were wet. She had cried again in her sleep – nothing new. Looking for her glass of water the girl grabbed it with shaking hands. MC drank a big sip of water, inhaled and exhaled shakily. She could not fall asleep again, that was for sure. Slipping out of her bed, MC made her way to the corridor with wobbly legs. Right across from her room was Saeran’s. She needed to see that he was okay. She also needed to know that Saeyoung was okay, but she was worried to wake him up. The former secret agent was a light sleeper due to his nerve-wracking job. MC was really glad that he did no longer had to work for the agency.

Listening closely to her surroundings she could not hear anything. Yes, both twins knew how to sneak around the bunker. They could not let the habit of making no noise go so easily. MC decided to check Saeyoung. If he was here, she would definitely be a bit calmer. Right? And he would also understand that she was looking for his brother at…. How late was it? She did not know. Maybe the redhead was still awake. That would be even better.Feeling a bit securer now, the girl quietly and slowly opened Saeyoung’s door right beside Saeran’s. She was met with darkness, which meant that the man was asleep. Still, MC was relieved to find two sleeping figures on the bed. Wait. Two?She tiptoed in the room to take a closer look. Really, both twins were sleeping soundly in Saeyoung’s bed. Both wearing comfy pyjamas and being wrapped up like really cosy burritos in their blankets. MC smiled at the sight before her. The girl exhaled. Since when was she holding her breath? Now she could sleep again peacefully. But still, dread filled her when she thought about being in her room all by herself.

Trying to be as quiet as possible MC opened Saeran’s door. After everything that had happened, they both had agreed to take their relationship slow and figure some things out first. Saeran did not want to rush things and MC did not want Saeran to feel obliged to something he may was not ready for yet.

The girl scanned the room for the white-haired man, but nobody was there. Her heart began to beat fast in her chest. Where was he? Did someone take him away? Trying to calm her breath she closed the door again.

>Get yourself together, MC!<, she thought. >He is probably in the kitchen to get something to drink or he needed to use the toilet.<

Not thinking much about the decision her sleepy brain had made in that moment, she rushed as fast and quietly as possible back to her room, grabbed her blanket and then came back into Saeyoung’s room. The only space not occupied in the bed was right in between the twins. MC knew that she was probably sporting the biggest blush at the moment but did not care. Her mind and body just wanted to rest.Contented the girl snuggled deeper in her blanked. She felt save and comforted being so close to the two men. However, MC did not notice the two warms that wrapped around her body – one from the left and one from the right – and yellow eyes meeting green ones in joyful silence. She was already asleep.

When MC woke up the next morning, she was alone in bed and could smell the aroma of eggs and bacon in the air. Both twins greeted her with big smiles and warm good-morning-hugs in the kitchen.

°°°°°°

The next time it happened it was a stormy afternoon and Saeyoung had suggested to watch some movies. MC left the twins to have some brotherly bonding time while she went in the kitchen to bake some treats for the three of them. She hummed cheerly while mixing the ingredients and smiled softly whenever she heard something like:

“Look Saeran! Oh my god, he has a lightsaber!”

Followed by: “Woah! Can you build something like this, Sae?”

“Hell yes! Which colour do you want?”

MC finished baking and cleaning up the kitchen. She had been so busy that she had not noticed that the noises from the living room had grown quieter and quieter. Curious the girl took a look at the couch while putting her apron away. The scene before her was too cute.

The twins were sprawled out in front of the TV, where the credits just rolled. They had made kind of a nest with blankets and pillows. Obviously, both of them were fast asleep. Saeyoung had popcorn stuck to his chin and snored quietly, still having a can of PhD. Pepper in one hand. Saeran was curled up like a cat and… Was there a smear of chocolate on his left cheek? MC chuckled. They both were something special. She picked up the can from Saeyoung’s hand and placed it on the coffee table. The girl did not even try to get rid of the snack-escapade on both faces of the boys. She looked for a free space and snuggled into the nest as well. The twins really knew how to make a comfy sleeping space, MC had to admit before she drifted off to sleep as well.

Saeyoung was the first to wake up. Disorientated he looked around and remembered the movie…which he did not know the ending of. He shrugged and stretched. The former hacker smiled when he saw that MC had joined them again. Still, he was really thirsty and the PhD. Pepper he found on the coffee table was nearly empty. So, he made his way to the kitchen and his eyes stated to shine when he found the beautiful and delicious looking cupcakes on the kitchen counter. Grabbing another can of his favourite drink he quickly shuffled back to the living room to wake his brother up.

“Saeran”, he shook his brother’s shoulder.

“No, not that sunflower”, the other man mumbled.

“You are not in the garden, dummy. Wake up!”

Lazily Saeran opened his eyes and looked at his twin. Saeyoung could see that his brother did not like being woken up from his slumber.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’ve found something in the kitchen which you will enjoy for sure.”

The redhead winked at his twin and urged him to follow him.

Saeran’s eyes started so sparkle once he saw the sweet treat waiting for him. Both brothers took a cupcake and toasted to one another before digging in.

MC was woken up by hushed whispers. She sat up and looked at the twins before her. Both grinned at the girl.

“Good morning, sleepyhead”, Saeran said.

“Well, I only joined your cuddle session. I felt left out”, MC answered. “By the way, I made cupcakes…” She stopped to giggle. “…for you. But I guess you already found them.”

The twins looked caught.

“What gave it away?” Saeyoung asked.

“Well, secret agent 707, you both have frosting on your face.”

“Why didn’t you say anything!?” both brothers exclaimed at one another.

MC simply laughed and got up to grab herself one of the cupcakes. But she stopped to drop a peck to each twin’s cheek. Humming again and walking away she did not notice that their faces now matched their natural hair colour.

°°°°°°°

The third time was a bit different then the other two. MC was soundly asleep in her room. She had gone to sleep early after a long and tiring day. Sometimes her nose scrunched up in her sleep and she turned to lay on her side. The girl looked really cute. But was she having another nightmare? That were the thoughts of two particular people, who spied through a gap by the door into the room. The twins wanted to cuddle with MC again but did not want the girl to seek for them again after waking up distresses. They would rather have her sleeping save and sound and wake up refreshed the next day.

Looking at each other and nodding in agreement, Saeran and Saeyoung opened the door completely and made their way to MC’s bed. Each of them went to one side and silently raised the blanket to crawl under it. Once they were snuggled up you could here contented sighing in the silent room. MC mumbled something inaudible in her sleep, but a smile was shown on her lips and the nose-scrunching stopped. All three of them soon fell in a peaceful slumber, dreaming of only nice things.

MC woke up feeling really hot. The girl opened her eyes and tried to sit up but could not. Confused she look around and notices Saeyoung and Saeran next to her who had her embraced in both of their arms. Feeling happy she got more comfortable. That was when she noticed that she had slept through the night without waking up crying. The twins really were her knights in shining armour. Turing her head towards Saeran, she planted a small kiss on his forehead and then repeated the same with Saeyoung. What she did not know was, that both twins were already awake as well.

“Good morning, angel”, Saeran whispered from her right.

“Good morning, cutiepie”, Saeyoung rasped from her left.

“Well, good morning to you two”, MC greeted them and could not resist to leave a tiny kiss on each of their noses. “How come that I have such handsome company to wake up to, hm?”

The twins blushed deeply by her actions and words.

“Well, we didn’t want you to have a nightmare”, Saeyoung started.

“And we wanted cuddles”, Saeran deadpanned.

“Saeran! Don’t reveal everything!”

“Don’t care, want cuddles”, with that Saeran snuggled closer to MC wo giggled joyfully.

“Oh my, two cuddly knights”, she exclaimed. “How can I thank you for keeping my bad dreams away?”

“More cuddles?” Saeyoung asked and gave her the biggest puppy eyes.

“And your chocolate-chip pancakes”, Saeran murmured from underneath the blanket.

“Your wishes shall be granted!” MC spoke.

The girl laughed loud when the brothers fist bumped in victory.

After some more cuddles in bed and having fun while making the pancakes, all three of them were now sitting at the breakfast bar in the bunker’s kitchen and munched away happily on their pancakes. MC was happy with her life now. She had met two beautiful souls, who she would want to spend the rest of her life with them. Yes, both of them.

Like sensing her thought Saeran spoke up: “MC, if you want, I’d really like to share a room with you. At least for sleeping. I know that you like alone-time as much as Saeyoung and I do, so I really don’t want you to give up your room.” Suddenly he seemed really nervous.

“Saeran, sweety, I’d love to”, MC started but Saeran was not finished: “I’d like for Saeyoung to be there as well.”

A big smile grew on the girl’s lips and she said: “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Yahooo, I knew she’d say yes!”, Saeyoung cheered.

Oh, so the two had planned that. MC did not mind. Her smile only grew bigger when both twins pressed a kiss so each of her cheeks.

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Smiling again at the memories MC closed her eyes again. Breakfast could wait, she was so comfortable right now.

“What are you smiling about, princess?”, Saeyoung asked while kissing the back of her hand. Apparently, he had been awake, too.

“Oh, just thinking about you two.”

She felt a kiss at her left temple and a kiss on her right cheek and then strong arms wrapped securely around her from both sides. MC sighed contented. Falling asleep and waking up fore sure was not so bad when she was all cuddled up in a sandwich of her two favourite boys.

[devintrinidad]

So Uhm, CAW anon here. I haven’t been into Hetalia for years. But I feel like talking about a few things I noticed back in fandom a lot that I didn’t see at all in the canon manga/anime (though Hetalia itself is just a fanfic of history. I’m only focusing on character and relationships present in the canon series). 

Ok a lot has probably changed since the last couple of years in fandom. But back then I saw a lot of depictions of the FACE group: England and Canada not having much of a relationship. France and Canda being the closest while France and America aren’t close at all. America and Canada having a strained if not dysfunctional brotherly bond. Canada having no backbone and being a sad sack all the time or just being a pure angel with no flaws. America being too childish.

I’m going to try to remember all the canon bits to back me up. But I’m mostly curious if there’s anything off and your (most likely much more up to date and informed) thoughts. 

Canada and England have a pretty good relationship from what I’ve seen. We’ve sen plenty of material of England being present in colony Canada’s life. He used to cook for him too (poor Canada) and Canada spent almost about the same amount of time with him as America did. Later on Canada chose Enlgand over America when the colonies revolted. He didn’t want to pick a side but in the end he did. He fought against American troops. Was there when England was heartbroken over the fighting. He even acted as a strategist, using his knowledge as America’s twin brother to use America’s weaknesses against him (sending surrender papers inside a basket of food. America was so hungry it took George Washington telling him to resist to not take the bait).  Later on when America and Canada were trying to mend their relationship. Canada would get so nervous and have England talk for him all the time instead (which only confused America). England did it without any fuss despite any issues he and America might still have. Overall Canada recalls having a good childhood and England was a part of that. The two might not be as close as America and England are, but they have their own history and bond both are very comfortable and happy with each other. 

America and Canada. Fans I ran into often focused on America and England’s dynamic history. But the North American brothers have a lot of their own turmoil and strength to them as well. While Canada might,moan about being invisible and such. Canada also remembers having a very fun childhood with America. So much he remembers how sad he was when America grew up much faster then him and couldn’t play with him all the time like he used to. When Canada told America he didn’t want to fight, only to choose England, America felt betrayed. He loved Canada and wanted his twin brother to fight for freedom with him. Their relationship went pretty sour for a long time. But the two did end up trying to be mature later on in life and congratulate each other despite how annoyed they are at how different the other is. 

From there we only get brother goodness. They can bug each other a lot. Canada takes for granted everything America has done and gone through, things that have also been good for Canada. While America likes to mess with Canada and act pushy with him. They do like to horse around and spend time together. Despite their differences, they’re probably the closest siblings in the world of nations. They’ve gone through their bitterness and still chose to be close brothers in the end. They like to play sports together. They like to use their appearances to mess with England who can’t tell them apart like France can. They call each other on the phone a lot. They have a joint Search for Santa Claus operations every winter. America respects Canada’s opportunity and ability to easily get along with others. He also takes Canada’s concerns very seriously and offers reasonable and helpful advice such as how to help his citizens get along. Canada’s opinions must mean a lot to him since Canada is the only individual to make America cry in despair when he went into his 3 hour insult rant against him. Despite his complaints about his personality, Canada looks up to America as a big brother who he always goes to for comfort or help. He respects and admires America a lot and trusts him as his closest confidante (after his polar bear. Not that that bear is ever helpful). Overall America and Canada have their downs like every sibling pair has. But they also seem to have a very strong and stable connection where they can act like brothers and best friends. Sometimes I think it’s easier to imagine America is closer to Canada then he is to England. 

America and France. Back then these two didn’t get a lot of attention. Which is strange because there’s tons of material of them interacting throughout the centuries. France used to cook for America when England wasn’t around (I bet when Colony America said English food was as good as French food, some thing broke inside France. The reason America started disliking English food is because France made it his mission to salvage some of his tastebuds. Xp). France has been the only FACE member to stay by America’s side without conflict. Both of them obviously had a close bond since France gave America Lady Liberty and you could see teasing and ruffling America’s hair like a big brother. The two hang out a lot. They go to Maid Cafes together. They seem to have lunch together all the time at conferences since France is always looking for America to go eat together. They apparently also have sleepovers a lot and like to compare different genres of movies. Whatever issues their people can have with each other never seems to affect their personal interactions. France is the big brother of love and that’s sometimes a running gag for jokes. But he really seems to be like a normal big brother figure for America. He often worries about America and Russia’s scary relationship and chides England for raising America to be weird. In a deleted strip, France is preventing America from drinking alcohol because he’s too young (being physically 19). It also gets a bit heartwarming when you recall the Joan of arc strips where France meets the reincarnation of Joan and she’s an American. Almost like America is now taking care of Joan and giving her the opportunity to be free and happy in ways she couldn’t before. 

Also while it’s not part of their dynamic. It’s always interesting that when the author wanted to show the Nation’s personal relationships with humanity. He always chose America and France. The supposed happy go lucky airheads who often gain a affectionate yet somber (to even downright tragic) experience from it. 

Overall America and France have a nice quiet and stable relationship. You could say while England raised America as a colony. France was among the mentors to America on how to be his own Nation. 

I think that’s it. Again my memory might be foggy but that’s what I can recall. =P

~~~

WAIT A MINUTE YOU’RE ALSO A HETALIAN??? AND YOU NEVER TOLD ME???

Okay, I’m going to prioritize this ask/submission thing first because wow, you’re a Hetalian and Hetalia has a special place in my heart. First of all, I’m kind of flattered that you think that I’m up to date for this, hahaha. I’ll have to tell you, while I do know a lot about American history, I’m actually more of a fan of the Itabros, hehehe.

A few tumblr people that I know specialize in Hetalia and have already posted FACE dynamics a lot in the blogs are, but not limited to: @historihet  @stirringwinds and @ellawritesficssometimes. I’m not sure if Ella is still active, but there’s a lot of content that you can browse through if I’m not thorough. Also, again, the list of tumblrs that have been associated with FACE are definitely more than I can imagine, those are the three that I follow and know off the top of my head.

To @historihet @stirringwinds @ellawritesficssometimes, I love your interpretations and love for history! If I say anything inaccurate or something you don’t find to your liking, please inform me! I don’t want to spread misinformation and I’m just so excited to talk about Hetalia to my dear Anon Friend :D 

If you’re reading this, I hope that you all have a wonderful day! And keep up the great work with your own analyses/fanart/fanfiction/etc. You guys rock and keep the fandom alive. :D

Anywhoozles, what you said here is fairly accurate. FACE definitely has its up and downs. Assuming that you haven’t been active in the fandom since... let’s say 2012-2014ish era, you might have noticed that the common bonds are Canada and France (platonic), France and England (rivalry/lovers/enemies), and the most concerning relationship America and England (brothers/rivals/lovers???). What you said in your analysis really applies within the sense of what is considered to be manga/anime canon, not necessarily historical canon. 

In historical canon (if you want to go down that route), FACE is one dysfunctional mess if you want to consider it as one family unit. Every one of them at one point has been at each other’s throat at one point (whether it be at war or just snubbing the other because of politics). 

We have:

1. The Revolutionary War (England vs America)

2. War of 1812 (Canada/England vs America, with special emphasis in 1814 because Canada burned down America’s White House if I remember correctly)

3. The XYZ Affair (I’m pretty sure it was a snub in diplomacy??? which actually started a war???)

4. The fact that American promised to help France in their own revolution, but Washington said no because we’re still a new country and all that jazz (...I know this because of Hamilton IF YOU’RE ALSO A HAMILFAN I WILL CRY)

5. And like the entire history of France/England is just its own thing

As you can probably tell, FACE... I think was just a  term for the fans to make this makeshift family dynamic that is cute in some respects if this was like a human au, but definitely a cluster of effs if you imagine them as eldritch abominations that were brought to life because of human imagination. 

Like, the dynamics can go in so many directions if you want to choose one aspect of history over another. 

In @stirringwinds, they often write/draw about America as this Prodigal son who happens to be like the Crown Prince succeeding his once proud father. (America turning into a superpower after the World Wars and the English Empire just kinda dismantling itself because of everything.... OF COURSE THAT’S AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION, PLEASE DON’T KILL ME FOR INACCURACY!

Whereas for another tumblr, @historihet they portray the USUK relationship as more of a ship. Like, the whole brother relationship that is skewed in the anime/dubs/subs (this is due to the fact that some fans take the whole older brother thing too literally because in Japan, you call your elders/peers that happen to be older than you via polite endearments) is more of a... I’m not gonna say paternal, but it was more of a mentor thing? I’m not sure, I haven’t interacted with them much, but I’m pretty sure they ship it. Plus, their art is so amazing and they’re obviously a fan of history because wow, their head canons and their art is so beautiful and detailed.

As for the whole France and Canada relationship, I think this can be further elaborated via @ellawritesficssometimes. I remember reading that France and Canada, while having a similar relationship to England and America, it wasn’t that close or as heartwarming as many fans make it out to be. If you follow Canadian history, I’m pretty sure Canada was under French rule for a sort time before becoming part of the English Empire. Like, Canada was part of the Empire for a longer time than under France. This means that France wasn’t always there, England was. You can further read between the lines about the English/Canadian relationships, especially if you consider the fact that America fought an entire revolution to get away from England because of neglect on England’s part and on Canada’s part.... all he had to do was ask. 

Soooooo....

Overall, I’m glad that you told me that you were part of the Hetalia fandom. It’s nice to see that the fandom is still alive and kicking, hahah. That reminds me, I’ve got to finish my series concerning Italia Veneziano, oops. Just wondering, but why did you want to talk about this? Not that I mind, it just seems out of the blue... 

Thanks for the analysis and your chat! I hope that you have a wonderful day! :D

Please don’t tell me you want a FACE fic, hahahah. XD

[hobbitsnapes]

The Red Hoods Protègè chapter 4

Older Damian Wayne x ofc

(Photo made by my lovely friend @bakketsux)

Summary:Red hood has taken a young vigilante under his wing and subsequently changes Damians life forever. (I suck at summary’s)

A/N: I know this doesn’t have anything to do with the story, but with what is happening with our world/country I want to put this out for you all. Times are tough and our world is in need of more love. I want everyone to feel and give out as much love as they can to even those who don’t love you. Please if are able to text ‘FLOYD’ to 55156.

As Jason and angel get to their apartment and climb the many steps, they have a comfortable silence over the both of them. Jason goes and unlocks the front door with his key and they both walk in and take their masks off. Angel taking off the hood that is secure to her head along with her domino mask that Jason gave to her.

The smell of food from what they assume to be from Roy filling the small apartment. They both walk into the kitchen to see a pizza box on the counter with a note attached. ‘Since you guys will be in late.’ Both grab a piece and start eating in the empty room with nothing but the moon coming from the widows to light the room.

“Hey after I’m done I’m gonna hop in the shower okay.” “Okay little one.” “You know I’m not that much younger than you.” She says with a laugh. “But are you still younger than me?” “Yes..” “then you’re my little one, little one.”

He starts to chuckle as she goes to her room to change out of her suit. As she peels off her suit starting with the secret notches in her suit, then to the hidden zipper in the front, a sigh escapes her when she gets the material off of her skin and can feel the cold breeze on her hot skin. As the suit comes off her back, a shiver runs up her spine when the cold hits her scars. She doesn’t pay attention to it as she removes her bra and panties and puts on her robe. She takes her suit and puts it on the dresser to wash later.

She steps out of the room to see the kitchen and living room to be empty, a light coming from under Jason’s door.

She walks to the bathroom and switches the light on, engulfing the room with light. She takes a look at herself in the mirror first checking for anything on her face, she sees that when she looks at her hair, blonde is coming in the roots. “Hey jay!” She yells. “Yeah?” “Tomorrow can I go to the shop and get some hair dye?” Jason steps out of his room with his sleeping clothes on. “That’s if you get me some as well, I’ve needed to dye mine for weeks now.” “Okay I’ll just get the same one then.” “Okay, goodnight little one.” “Night jay jay.”

She shuts the door and turns the water on and sets it to a warm temperature. She strips from her robe and sets it on the counter.

She steps into the shower and lets the water engulf her and sighs at the comfort it brings. She grabs her sponge and lathers in in soap as she gingerly rubs her body down from the sweat that collected on her body. Taking extra care on any healing wounds from previous nights. As she reaches up to wash the top of her shoulder blades a sharp pain runs through her and a small cry leaves her as the pain sets in until she lowers her arms. She waits for the pain to subside to get back under the water. She puts her head under the water and lets the water wash the soap from her body and wet her hair. She grabs the shampoo and lathers her scalp and smiles at the minty cooling it brings.

She stands in the water for a few minutes even after she’s finished washing her hair. She’s so tired she could fall asleep in here.

She shuts the water off and steps into the steamy room and grabs a towel and drys off, putting the towel on her head to dry her hair as she puts her robe on. She goes back to her room to see her suit is no longer on the dresser. Jay must’ve come and gotten them. She smiles as she grabs a shirt that she took from Jason one of the first nights that she came to live here. Even after a year of training it’s still fitting like a dress on her. She gets into bed and lets the comfort of her bed put her to sleep.

She comes into the apartment with a bag containing 2 boxes of black hair dye and a snack for later. “Jay jay im home!” “Bathroom!” “You taking a shit?” “No!” “You naked?” “No” “okay then.”

She enters the bathroom and is met with Jason, bent down to see the top of his head, with a fine tooth comb trying to take the white tuft of hair away from the rest of his hair but failing miserably. “Want some help?” “Please.” She chuckles as Jason sits on the toilet and grabs the comb and starts Sectioning his white bit from his hair. “Why don’t you dye this bit, I never understood why you keep it.” “Makes me look badass.” A laugh rumbles from her and Jason joins in with her. “Yeah and the 6’4 height and the 200 plus pounds of Muscle along with guns isn’t enough.” “Hey plenty of guys have that, who else can say they got a white tuft of hair?” “Old guys, maybe you are getting old now!” “You little shithead.” Jason grabs her sides and starts tickling her, as she lets out a laugh and a cry and tries folding her body from him and he gets up and keeps tickling her sides. “ST-O-PP II-TT!” She laughs “STOP IT DAD!” The tickling stops as she gasps and looks away from Jason. She feels his large arms wrap around her and is squished to his chest. She wraps her arms around him as well. “Okay then I’ll stop, daughter.” A few tears threaten to leave her eyes but she wipes them away on his shirt.

As they untangle their arms from around each other Jason kisses the top of her forehead, a smile breaking on her face. Jason sits back down while she takes the white hair and ties them with a small rubber Elastic and pins them away as to not get any dye on it.

She prepares the dye and puts it in a paper bowl and dips the brush into the mix, and starts off by painting the hair around the white. Then once that is coated she spreads more dye on his hair, getting it in well on his strawberry blonde roots and coating all the hair until it’s fully saturated in the now dark dye. She wraps his hair in cling film. Leaving out the white bit.

She sits down as Jason takes the other box and mixes the dye. He puts the gloves on and takes a glob and puts it in her hair, some drips on her forehead and she laughs at the scared look on Jason’s face. “Maybe don’t pick up so much dye in one go eh.” “Yeeaahh I’ll remember that next time.” He takes a washcloth he has ready for this very purpose and wipes the dye from her forehead. She chuckles at the look of pure Concentration on Jason’s face, even his tongue sticks out a little bit. He carefully rubs the dye into her hair and a calm silence overcomes the two. When it’s all in she wraps her hair in cling film and waits another 20 minutes for Jason’s hair to Process.

Once the 20 minutes has passed they go into the kitchen and Jason bends down to get his head in the sink. She starts washing the dye from his hair and makes sure not to get any in the white. Once it’s washed out her hair is ready. “Now I’ll try not to get any water in your ear like last time.” “You better not.”

Jason starts rubbing the dye out of her hair, another silence overcomes them as the water turns from black to clear. She gets up and puts her hair in a towel. The two walk into the living room and sit down on the couch. “What do you wanna watch?” “Umm, I don’t know.” “Have you seen the Harry Potter movies?” “No?” Jason gasps. “Okay I know what we’re doing for the rest of the day.”

He gets up and goes over to his stack of movies and picks one to go into the tv slot. “While you do that I’m getting something to eat.” She goes to the fridge and sees what she’s been waiting for all day. She grabs the yogurt and a spoon and plops on the couch with Jason. “How can you eat that shit?” “It’s the most wonderful and Decadent food in all of existence.” She says as she puts the spoon in her mouth. They relax as the first scene comes on and prepare to watch what will probably take up the rest of their day.

As Damian walks down the hallway of the manor he’s greeted by Alfred. “Master Damian, master dick has requested you to go to the family room for ‘brother time.’ I brought sandwiches and lemonade for you both.” “Thank you Alfred.” Damian groans as he walks towards the living room. The sound of the large TV is heard down the hallway the further he gets to the room. Damian walks in and sees dick laying on one of the large couches facing the TV. “Hey dames, come on in.” Damian rolls his eyes as dick sits up and he joins him on the couch. “What do you want, you never just invite me to watch a movie.” “I know, I was here helping Bruce with a case and we got it figured out faster than we thought and I’ve got nothing to do today. So I thought we’d have some brotherly bonding time.” “Can’t you do that with drake?” “He’s out with steph today.” “And Todd?” “Damian...you know he doesn’t talk to us anymore..hasn’t for a while.” “Probably because he’s got his hands full with that annoying little brat hes taken in.” “Wait what? What do you mean?” “Last month father and I went out one night to a large drug trade and found the place filled with bodies. When we found the couplet it was Todd and said he wanted to show us their work. He’s taken in a young girl and calls her his Protègè. And god she’s Insufferable and won’t shut up and is a fucking Nuisance.” “Oh yeah, what makes her that way?” “She’s always saying something snarky, always with a smug look on her face and makes inappropriate comments towards me.” “What kind of comments does she make? And why does it bother you so much dames?” “I’m done talking about her, if I keep thinking about her I’ll get a headache.” “Okay then..” dick says with a smile. “What do you want to watch?” “I don’t care, just nothing annoying.” “You find everything annoying.” “Not everything, just most things. Besides father and I leave for patrol in a few hours.” “Ever seen Chicago P.D.?” “No.” “Then we’re watching that.”

When Damian walks down to the cave he sees his father is already in his suit. “I need you to hurry up tonight, Croc escaped the asylum and is in downtown Gotham.” “Got it.” He hurried to get dressed and grab his things faster than normal.

Catastrophe, all that was around them was destroyed apart from the tall buildings that stood high into the sky. Cars where abandoned with windows broken. Glass and Debris scattered all over the ground, crunching against their boots as the walked around trying to find where croc went.

A scream could be heard on the other street over, Batman and robin running towards it. They cane to a halt when they saw croc holding a woman in the air, about to rip her apart when a bullet was shot into crocs foot. The beast let out a roar and threw the woman, both men running towards them to not only save the wounded woman but to stop croc. As Batman runs to fight croc, Damian crouches down to pick the injured woman. That is until he hears another person running towards them. It’s her. “You go help Batman and I’ll take her to safety.” Angel picks up the woman and runs towards the other street, presumably to where the cops are.

As Damian goes to help his father he gets hit by the tail of croc, throwing him to the ground a few feet away. Croc sets his eyes on the fallen robin, and charges at him raising his claws to strike him. But before he could be ripped apart a shot fires and hits crocs hand. As croc clutches his hand in pain, Damian feels arms wrap around him, pulling him up. “Are you hurt??” “No im fine!” “Then do your fucking job and try not to get killed!” Angel takes a rock next to her and throws it at crocs head. Angering him and having him charge at the both of them. Damian takes his grappling gun and shoots croc in the head and pulls him to the ground and kicks his head into the ground. Angel gets on top of croc and beats his head into the ground until croc gets back up and she swings off from him before he can fling her off. Red hood appears and shoots croc in the knee. Croc falling to the ground in pain. Batman comes and kicks crocs head into the ground again, finally Knocking him unconscious.

“You know I didn’t need your help!” “Hmm yeah, totally looked that way when you just laid there when he was about to rip you apart!” “We had it under control!” “You had it under control as much as you control your angel issues.” “DO YOU EVER SHUT THE HELL UP!!” “Don’t be fucking MAD AT ME THAT I SPEAK THE TRUTH! EVERYONE JUST TIP TOES AROUND YOU BUT GUESS WHAT I WONT! You’re just fucking mad that I speak the truth!” “IF IT WASN’T FOR THIS CODE I WOULD’VE KILLED YOU BY NOW!!” “ROBIN! STOP IT NOW!”

Damian didn’t hear his father when he charged at her, no longer able to control his anger. He grips her arms and throws her, her landing on the ground. She reaches back and hits him as hard as she can in the mouth, stunning him for a second as she flips around, slamming her thighs around his neck and locking him in a choke hold. “You know, most people in this Position are in very different Circumstances. If you weren’t such a prick I’d offer to try it out sometime.” She gets off of him as he gasps for breath. He hits her and throws her again, against a car and walks away.

“You know, I looked up to you when I was on the streets. Thought you and him were a symbol of good, justice, and to help others. Now I see you’re just a broken man who can’t handle when someone challenges you and gets angry when someone defies you. Robin is supposed to help people, to help the greater good and to save this city. You’re no robin.” When he turns around she’s gone. When he heard her, a pain shot through his heart. He let his anger control him, he was becoming what his mother trained him to be. A soldier that ends anybody who defies his beliefs.

As him and his father speed away awards the manor, a silence fills the space. Damian looking down just thinking. He’s not thinking about one thing in particular, more a jumble of things that he can’t put into parts and Sort through.

When they reach the manor Damian gets out and starts walking away, not even bidding Alfred or his father a goodnight. Both men watching him walk away with tense and rushed footsteps.

The sound of his door opening brings Damian back to reality. He walks into the room with his head still down. He goes to the bathroom, striping from his suit and getting into the shower. He scrubs all the sweat and grime from his body and washes his hair.

As Damian gets out of the shower he looks in the mirror and sees a bruise starting to form on his neck, from the girl who may Infuriate him, but also he let down because of his anger, a lesser but still strong pain shoots him in the heart at the thought. Her usual arrogant and snarky voice sounding disappointed and, pained. How many others has he let down since becoming robin? How many no longer look at robin as a symbol of hope. How many no longer think of robin being good, all because of him. The thought hurts him to think as he climbs into bed. The pained sound of her voice ringing in his head until sleep overcomes him.

Tags: @comic-nerd-dc @bakketsux @psychovigilantewrites

[secret-engima]

So in Nox AU how does Regis try to bond with Ardyn after it becomes clear that they're 'half-brothers', cause I think that'd be sweet to talk about.

Hmmm good question! Buckle up Imma ramble and I’m sure angst will show up somewhere in here but hey.

-After the shock factor wears off, he probably tries the direct route of talking about their Brother status.

-This, for reasons Very Obvious to say, Nox and the audience, does not go over well.

-Ardyn continues to insist they are NOT brothers, that their blood connection means nothing, and grows prickly when Regis pushes. So Regis stops pushing for fear of making things worse. But … that doesn’t mean he is giving up on getting to know his half-brother. Ohhh no. He just … has to figure out a sneakier way.

-I feel like he ends up spending even more time with Nox, because Nox is a sure gateway to Ardyn, with the bonus of Nox being his son and he always loves hanging out with his son. Ardyn, who adores his nephew, has no issues with including Regis in bonding activities because Regis is Nox’s dad.

-Nox knows exactly what Regis is trying to do and what Ardyn is pointedly ignoring and just- sighs. His life. Why is his life so weird.

-I feel like Regis also ends up accidentally bonding with Ardyn over history, because Regis adores history and loves to nerd about it and Ardyn has lived THROUGH a decent chunk of history and doesn’t mind either talking about bits of it (as long as you don’t bring up the royal family of the era) or sitting back and laughing at the idiot theories poor modern historians have come up with (or utterly confounding Regis with his ability to fluently SPEAK in old languages, Regis is so jealous TEACH HIM PLS).

-Regis introduces Ardyn to fishing. Ardyn finally understands where Nox’s obsession with fishing comes from. It comes from THIS guy. Ardyn doesn’t … really get the appeal until he figures out that for Regis it’s not about the FISH, it’s about getting to spend a few serene hours outside in the sunshine, enjoying the fresh air and light and quiet. No politics, no drama, no hard hikes that will hurt his knee (save maybe to get to the fishing spot). Just … calm. Sunshine. Relaxation. Pretty water. And if he lands a fish or three for supper, that’s great! If not, oh well.

-When he looks at it like that Ardyn … still doesn’t REALLY enjoy fishing, but he can see the appeal now. Regis and Nox team up to invite Ardyn on their fishing trips and so while the fishing nerds do their thing, Ardyn can usually be found stretched out under a tree either napping or reading a book.

-Somehow (Nox’s careful manipulation on behalf of his dad and uncle because he wants his family to get along kthanks) this evolves into just Regis and Ardyn going on fishing trips that they then spend lazily watching the water or with Regis listening to Ardyn read aloud from whatever novel he’s chosen at random this time (he does not have any clue on modern literature, he literally wanders through the library and picks something that looks unknown and interesting) or arguing over historical factoids that Regis thinks are true because Research and Ardyn knows are false because He’s Been There (but can’t say that). If Ardyn’s book of choice is poetry, they might discuss that (Regis discovers that Ardyn is very perceptive with words, very good at putting them together for twisty rhymes and meanings, but his on the spot poetry tends to be either dark or have gallows humor).

-If his book is fiction, it usually ends up being either shamelessly racy, a tooth-rotting romance, a horror, or a cop drama because Ardyn never reads the back, just picks based on how many question marks the book cover sparks in his head. This leads to more than a few afternoons spent with Ardyn reading the book aloud to Regis and both groaning at the stupidity of the author, or Ardyn laughing at Regis when Regis’s inner romantic rears its head (or his inner wuss. For a man who braved daemon-filled dungeons and war, this man CANNOT handle the suspense of a murder mystery or a slow burn horror novel, Ardyn, with the patience of a 2k former eldritch abomination himself, just gets GLEEFUL the more the suspense rises).

-Somehow, Ardyn is STILL utterly flabbergasted when next Christmas, Regis gives him presents. One, because presents??? Him??? Why??? Two, because they are all … things he likes??? They’re books with strange covers and even a few movies because Regis has discovered (to his horror and guilt and anger toward Mors) that Ardyn knows exactly 0 pop culture references beyond ones he’s absorbed from Nox (so … mostly King’s Knight or chocobo ones) and has seen 0 famous movies of the decades. Regis makes him a collection of famous hits according to era, they end up watching them together because if Ardyn is going to watch these strange things, Regis is going to suffer through his peanut gallery commentary.

-Someday Ardyn is going to look up in the middle of snarking with Regis over a movie and just- freeze. Because he knows this feeling. This warm, more-fond-than-annoyed feeling. This is what he felt teasing and being teased by Somnus. This is … this is brotherly affection. For REGIS.

-Ardyn abruptly leaves, runs away from his feelings and Regis because Of Course He Does. Surprisingly, it is not Nox that tracks him down and smacks sense into him, it’s Titus. Titus who has watched this odd brotherly relationship form where Ardyn and Regis take turns being the little brother without noticing, Titus who has seen how HAPPY it makes Ardyn.

-Titus who is not going to let his idiot Izunia Caelum ruin everything for himself just because of past traumas and guilt complexes.

-No one but the two knows what Titus told him that day, but hours after Regis has well and truly panicked and started guilt tripping himself, Ardyn creeps back into the room and shakily sits down, quietly asks if the movie is over or if it was paused.

-Regis, wary but grateful, says he paused it. Ardyn nods and they resume watching in a more subdued, skittish manner. But … but Ardyn is still here, and after thirty minutes of unnerving silence Ardyn begins to peanut gallery again and Regis feels something unwind in his chest. Nothing is ruined. Ardyn is here. Ardyn is … okay with this.

-Nox slinks away in the shadows, for once unnoticed by both Regis AND Ardyn. The part of his head that is occupied by memories of a certain little brother 2k years ago (not a kinslayer king, but a little brother, who once loved and then hated and then regretted all the way to his deathbed) murmurs softly in regret for wounds unhealed and relief for brotherhood once again found.

[davidthetraveler]

David’s Fic-Rec Friday:  2020/03/27

Hey guys.  Sorry about last week.  With this quarantine in place, I’m having to share the internet with my mother, who has to do all her assistance principal-ing from home now.  But we’ve managed to figure out a setup that will let her have the signal strength she needs and will still let me have access.

Of course,that didn’t stop my brother and sister-in-law on insisting we come over for dinner, thus resulting in this getting put out so late tonight, but what can you do?

Anyway, let’s get to this new batch of stories.

Blank - Royality Oneshot by And_There_They_Go_Again (aka @logan-sanders-enthusiast )

To start things off, we’ve got a Royality soulmate AU that starts out angsty but ends on a much brighter note.  Everyone knows that at the stroke of midnight on your sixteenth birthday, the first words that your soulmate will say to you appear on your wrist.  Roman and Remus are so psyched to receive their words, but only Remus’ appear.  Roman’s wrist is left blank.  Years later, all the pent up anger and frustration about the pity everyone shows him for not having a soulmate bursts out of him at his college roommate Logan, after which Roman storms out of their dorm in a rage.

But everything changes when he accidentally bumps into another student, causing them to spill their books and papers on the ground.  Roman quickly apologizes and starts to gather up their things.  But when he returns everything to them, they reply with sign language.  Roman starts signing back, but then catches sight of the other boy (Patton)’s wrist, where the apology he just blurted out is written.

This story does mention some darker concepts, including self harm, rampant swearing, and both Remus and Deceit, though the latter is only mentioned and the former is sympathetic.  But other than that, it’s all good and absolutely worth your time.

Anything Goes by LetHimBeCaesar (No Tumblr Account)

And now for some pre-relationship Logince.  Logan has been taken into the imagination by Roman so as to acquire some dandelion greens for a project.  In response, Roman has conjured up an entire field of dandelions, whose seeds are swirling and alighting all around them.  One in particular, still intact, lands in Roman’s hair where Logan pulls it out.  And at Roman’s prompting he makes a wish.  It all might seem so superfluous and pointless, but it is the imagination.  And in the imagination, anything goes, including the idea of him and Roman together, which the prince might be wishing for just as much as himself.  Soft and simple, and oh so magical.

Two Cute Dorks in Love by PanicAtTheEverywhere (aka @muffin-arts )

Now here we’ve got some soft Moxiety for the soul, though there’s also some background LAMP.  Patton can’t seem to find his cat hoodie, and after asking Logan and Roman with little success, he heads off to ask Virgil.  But what he finds is Virgil wearing said hoodie and looking more content than Patton’s ever seen him.  Happy to oblige with some swapping, Patton pulls on Virgil’s own hoodie, and the share a tender kiss as they express just how much they love each other.  Wonderfully sweet, and with the image of some soft boys in comfy sweaters to sweeten the pot, you can’t go wrong with this one.

Professional Spirit Chasers by chemically_imbalanced_romance (aka @soft-stormcloud)

Now this one, I should warn you, does deal with some darker material, and could be problematic for some people, so do be careful and heed the warnings.

Logan and Virgil are an engaged couple who work as Professional Spirit Chasers (title drop).  With their new camera man Roman, they’re trying to remove the spirit of a young man named Patton from a recently purchased house who died several years before at his own hands.  Virgil, who is a medium, manages to talk him into coming to live with them so he’s not alone anymore.  And Patton, under their adoptive care, begins to finally start healing from the pain his life, and death, have caused him.

Obviously this story features a dead major character, references to suicide and depression, some description of injuries, and supernatural elements.  But if you can get through all that, then this story is definitely worth a look-see.

The Castle by shnuffeluv (aka @sanderssidesfanfiction)

A short drabble featuring the creativitwins.  Remus has just finished building a cardboard castle for Roman, and Roman is delighted at what his regressed brother has made for him, and invites him to join him inside for some classic Disney movies.  This story does mention blood, and features both Sympathetic Remus and Age Regression.  But is otherwise wonderfully wholesome, as all best brotherly stories are.

Fluffuary 3 - Logince by vicdehart (aka @vicdehart )

Now for some cliche romance, courtesy of our resident Nerd and Prince coupling in another human AU.  Roman’s bummed out about the rain preventing them from having their preplanned date outside.  But Logan’s not about to let a little weather get his love down, and channels a little cliche romance for some dancing in the rain with his prince.  Fluffy and hearfelt in every way you can think of, this thing will rot your teeth out if you don’t die of a sugar high first.

Platonic Ideal by pickledragon (aka @learningthomas)

And here we have a platonic Moxiety human AU for all your familial love needs.  Patton comes home from work to his shared place with Virgil.  After stewing in his thoughts for a bit, he brings up the subject of adoption with Virgil, who wholeheartedly agrees, reminding him that he is ready and happy to co-parent with him.  The author expressly describes their relationship as platonic, but there’s room to interpret it romantically or queerplatonically.  Either way, it’s wonderful and heartwarming in all the right ways.

A Lovely Night by The_Fangirl_Sunstorm (aka @the-fangirl-sunstorm )

I am such a sucker for Prinxiety mutual pining get together stories.  It’s a wonder they don’t show up more often on these lists.  Anyway, Virgil is, rather reluctantly, taking part in this week’s bonding activity with the other light sides.  Namely, karaoke in Roman’s room.  Virgil gets forced into a duet with Roman, and picks “A Lovely Night” from La La Land, as a clever way to express some of his own unspoken feelings for his duet partner.  Afterward, overcome with these emotions, he excuses himself to recover from the overwhelming thoughts of his unrequited feelings, only for Roman to come check on him and reveal those feelings aren’t quite so unrequited.  Such a perfect use of a lovely concept.

Tangled In You by MagpieMorality (aka @magpiemorality )

For our last entry, we’re looking at a Logince college AU that hits rather close to home for me (wow, awful lot of Logince stories in this one, eh?)  Roman comes back to the dorm shortly after Logan does, and Logan offers to comb through Roman’s long tangled locks to work out the kinks and straighten it out.  Which leaves Roman a very soft gay mess in his lap.  Simple but oh so wonderfully sweet, this one’s exactly what I wish my partner would do for me.  You know, if/when I have long hair again, and if I ever find a partner.

*****

And this week’s Featured Fic Writer is:

Panic_at_the_everywhere (aka @panicattheeverywheremcr)

This German writer has a most excellent talent for writing, and her story Broken, while still in progress, is a wonderful tale deserving of some love and attention.  She’s definitely worthy of your time.

*****

Well that’s it for this week.  Be sure to give each of these stories and authors some love and affection with some kudos, some comments, and maybe even some bookmarks.  And if you’d like to see previous weeks’ recommendations, or learn more about the Fic-Rec Friday Project, you can find all that stuff here on my Fic-Rec Friday Masterpost.

Also, I’m still accepting suggestions for Featured Fic Writers and other stories to recommend.  There are no requirements for writers, though it would be preferred that they be lesser known authors.

Finally, if you’d like to be added to my Fic-Rec Friday Tag List, or if you’re on the list and would like to be removed, just let me know and I’ll take care of it.

Stay safe everybody, and happy reading!

General Tag List:

@ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2 @panicattheeverywheremcr

Fic-Rec Friday Tag List:

@kunnuglegur-tortimandi @max-is-tired @creativity-killed-thekitten

[sa-gt-tarrius]

How to Survive The Fall — Chapter 1

Starting route to 23 Amber Street. Turn left onto memory lane, keep right, and pray you won’t find the answers you’re looking for.

Warnings: Death mention (no main characters), dysfunctional families, Deceit as a major character, Remus mention

***

It couldn’t be stressed enough just how average Virgil’s family was.

As dysfunctional and estranged as it could be, Virgil had been assured time and time again how completely and totally normal the Sanders household was. Virgil was just a regular guy in a regular town. Life had always been normal for Virgil—and it would stay normal for the rest of time.

Or maybe normal was the wrong word. Boring was way more accurate.

Virgil huffed, twisting his pen around in his fingers. Of all the boring things in Virgil’s life, college was the most boring. Lectures would drag on and on, droning until it became nothing but white noise. Virgil’s mind scarcely stayed focused on the class’s topic, which often led to some confusing tests and staggeringly low grades. But it wasn’t his fault—the professor couldn’t be duller if he were a rock with glasses.

Virgil glanced at the clock. 3:05. Ten more minutes until his brother came to pick him up. Dante promised him a pizza night today, full of video games and brotherly bonding time. Virgil was looking forward to that. It sure beat watching youtube all night by himself.

Ten minutes had never dragged by so slowly. By the time the bell rang, Virgil was certain he was about to go insane. He wasted no time in slinging his bag over his shoulder and jogging out front. A familiar blue van was there, parked too far from the curb to be even remotely legal. Virgil held back a snort of laughter as he flung the door open.

Dante was sitting crookedly in the driver’s seat, frowning deeply. “Careful with the door, Virge,” he deadpanned.

“You’re too far from the curb again.” Virgil plopped the bag at his feet, leaning as far back as the chair would let him. “Ready for tonight?”

“I don’t want to scratch the tires. And yeah, I’m ready. We’ve just got to order pizza when we get back.“

“You’re not picking it up on the way home?”

“I’m not wasting gas,” Dante replied, flicking his turn signal on and shifting into drive. “Seatbelt. Now.”

“Fine,” Virgil groaned. He reached over to buckle himself in, then shot Dante a funny face. “There. Seatbelt.”

The ride proceeded as it usually did. Dante focused on the road while Virgil drowned out his thoughts with music. He slipped on his gigantic headphones and stared out the window, tapping his finger to the beat. To an outsider, Virgil would appear rude or uninterested. But Dante knew better. Virgil had his ways of coping; music was one of his favourites.

Dante knew Virgil better than anyone else, which wasn’t too surprising. For many years, all Virgil had to rely on was Dante. His parents died a long time ago, leaving Virgil in the care of his older brother. They had a third sibling, Remus, but he lived on the other side of the country. Sometimes he and Dante would receive packages from Remus on their birthdays with strange gifts inside. Freeze-dried space-food calamari, a paper crown from a fast-food restaurant, and a multi-tool with 14 different blades were Virgil’s favourites.

Aside from Remus, Virgil also had two cousins who lived in the state next to them. Emile, the younger of the two, was nice enough. He was a school therapist at a small high school who visited Virgil and Dante as often as possible. Practically every interaction Virgil had with him was uncomfortable, if not painstakingly awkward. Emile would sit Virgil down on the couch, pull out a notebook, and ask about Virgil’s life. Every conversation became a therapy session of sorts. The therapist’s work life always bled into his personal relationships. Oh, and Emile also really liked cartoons. The two sometimes watched anime together. 

As for the other cousin, Remy was an enigma. He was in the army... or something. Or was it the navy? Nobody detailed the details. Virgil bet that Remy was a submarine janitor—or something just as uncool—and that’s why no one talked about it. Virgil had met Remy once or twice, but not enough to know anything about him aside from his caffeine addiction. He seemed eccentric and a little too moonstruck for Virgil’s taste, but not too bad overall.

But aside from the rare visit from Emile and the even rarer visit from Remy, it was just Virgil and Dante. On one hand, Virgil liked it that way. It meant more time with Dante. Unlike his friends at school, family commitments such as christmas parties or easter dinners never bound Virgil. But on the other hand, Virgil found himself feeling lonely far too often. When Dante was working, Virgil had no one to talk to. Even the blaring noise of his favourite bands couldn’t drown out the unbearable silence of the empty house. 

Virgil figured he had it lucky. He knew some people with ridiculously strict parents, while others had nobody to care for them. Dante found himself in the goldilocks zone between being chill and being responsible. Dante was also a lot of fun. Pizza parties and gaming nights were very common when he was home. 

...Maybe boring wasn’t the right word, either. Virgil decided steady was the best way to describe his life. And regardless of how dull it could be, Virgil was truly thankful for what he had. 

It didn’t take them long to get home. Virgil left his headphones in while making his way inside. He’d just have to unpack and get changed before they could settle down. Virgil arrived at his room and dropped his bag onto the bedroom floor next to a dirty pair of pants. Then he took off his hoodie and threw it haphazardly into the laundry bin. There—unpacked and changed.

However, his absolute banger of a playlist was so rudely interrupted by a soft dinging noise. Someone just sent him a text. Huffing indignantly, Virgil took his headphones off, opened his messenger app and checked the text. It was probably a reminder from his professor about some project.

The front door slammed closed. “I’m down here when you’re ready,” Dante hollered from downstairs. “Don’t take too long.”

Virgil didn’t answer. The text had him too preoccupied. He read it twice, three times, four times, blinking rapidly as he tried to wrap his head around the brief message. “What the hell?” was all he could bring himself to say.

we are alive and well come to 23 amber st please respond asap logan 

The message was brief, likely written in a hurry. Virgil checked the phone number; it wasn’t from anyone in his contact list. He didn’t recognize the name Logan either. 

Why would someone send him this? Was this a joke?

“Come on, Virge! Let’s get set up!”

Virgil nodded absently, shoving his phone into his pocket and shuffling downstairs to the living room. Dante was on the couch, untangling a mess of controller cords. “There you are. Go pick a game. I’ll get this sorted out.”

“Okay.” Virgil knelt by the game box, sifting through various cases of game. “Yo, Dante?”

“Yeah, Virgil?”

Virgil picked up a copy of Shoot Shoot 7, cringed, and put it back into the box. “Do you know anyone named Logan?”

Dante whirled his head around, eyebrows raised. “Uh, why?”

“I got a weird text today,” Virgil drawled, glancing between their copies Bosom Blossom and ATV Versus. “Fighting game or racing game?” 

“Racing,” Dante replied, looking distinctly suspicious. “What do you mean, weird text?”

“I don’t know. It said something about going to 23 amber street. Sent by some dude named Logan.” Virgil grunted as he struggled to open the game case. “I don’t know a Logan. And I don’t recognize that address.”

“Me neither,” Dante shrugged. He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat, focusing on the tangled cords. “I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s probably just a prank.” The elder brother’s voice was calm and collected, but for a fraction of a moment, worry flashed in his eyes. That wasn’t surprising in the slightest.

While Dante was permissive and amiable, Virgil often noticed traces of parental instincts in certain situations. Whenever Virgil had to come home late, he would find Dante wide awake on the sofa, no matter how late it was. And whenever Virgil’s response to “how was your day” was anything less than “fine,” Dante would mysteriously obtain a pair of movie tickets or amusement park passes. Dante showed his love in subtle but meaningful ways, and Virgil always noticed.

Maybe he shouldn’t have told Dante about the text. He’d probably get all worried about Virgil now that he knew.

“Yeah, it’s probably a prank.” Virgil finally inserted the disc into the game console, happy to see a green light flashing softly. “There we go. I'm gonna go order that pizza while you, uh…” The younger brother held back a snort as Dante seemed to tangle the cords even more. “...figure that out.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Dante muttered, twisting the ball of wires around in his hands. He was hiding his frustration pretty well, but Virgil saw the absolute seething anger building on his face. “Get something with onions on it.”

“Alright.” Virgil quickly dialled the pizza parlour, taking the phone to the kitchen as to not to howl with laughter at Dante’s unfortunate plight. “Yeah, hi. Can I get a large bacon and onion pizza? Extra onions, too.”

Life in the Sanders household was normal, boring, and steady. It had been that way for many years. But little did Virgil know that his entire world was about to get very, very weird… and a strange text message from an unknown number was only the beginning.

[shirtlesssammy]

13x15: A Most Holy Man

Then: 

The feeling when you desperately want to be useful for the team but your bros keep bringing you down.

Now:

Well, he’s not in Malta, where a mysterious figure breaks into a monastery to steal a holy relic --the skull of St. Peter. He nabs the skull but is confronted by a nun. He knocks her out and apologizes before making his escape.

The boys, meanwhile, are at the bunker trying to track down the ingredients they need to open the portal to the AU world. Cas is in Syria. BIG SIGH. Sam is on the hunt for the blood of a most holy man. And apparently there’s a market for religious relics. Haha, this is wild! Like, this is the first time ever they’ve had to track down items with religious significance! They’ve never needed holy oil or the bone of a righteous person or the bone of a lesser saint (the last one they didn’t even use the internet to find!)

Sam wants to check out a dealer, Margaret Astor, who seems legit.

They meet with Ms. Astor, and she makes it clear to Sam what the price of business will be (heavy flirting). Sam doesn’t back down, and tells her that they’re looking for the blood of a saint. He can’t tell her much beyond that but adds, “It’s very, very important to us, to me.”

She has a lead, and suitably happy with Sam’s level of flirting, tells them that the man they should contact is Richard Greenstreet.

Cut to the the brothers meeting with Richard Greenstreet. While enjoying a donut WAY too much, he tricks the brothers into revealing they’re frauds. They quickly reveal they’re looking for the blood of a saint --and they’re in luck! He HAS some! He then insults the Winchesters’ suits and financial means of purchasing said blood from him.

He does think they could work together though. The cold open’s missing skull? Greenstreet believes the mob boss, Santino Scarpatti, stole the skull and if Sam and Dean can get it back, he’ll trade the blood for it. Scarpatti plans on acquiring it the next night. Dean says that’s not a lot to go on, but Greenstreet responds, “I have faith.”

Outside, Dean admits to some HIGH HYPOCRISY when he says that they’re not perfect, the world isn’t perfect, and if they’re not perfect trying to save it, so be it. BUT CAS BETTER BE PERFECT OR SO HELP DEAN HE’LL ARGUE TO THE POINT OF MAKING CAS FLY TO SYRIA JUST TO GET AWAY FROM THE BULLSHIT. Whew, sorry.

Insert harmless, pointless, not reading the room -on a micro OR macro level- scene. Can someone put Dean’s exchange with the book reading woman into context for me? Please and thank you.

Sam meanwhile has tracked down Antonio Miele: just traveled from Malta, checkered past, and currently staying at the Patricia Hotel in Seattle. After bumping into a man while entering the elevator, they get to Miele’s room, only to find it completely ransacked, and Miele dead on the floor.

A “detective” from the “Seattle PD” shows up and forces Sam and Dean to handcuff themselves to the radiator. He starts tearing the place apart even more, refusing to answer Sam’s questions. The man leaves, not realizing he’s dealing with Sam and Dean Winchester. Sam’s handy lock-pick gets them out of their bind with minimal effort. They leave the hotel, not completely unnoticed. 

The boys breakdown this very un-supernatural episode so far:

Who killed Miele?

Does Greenstreet already have the skull?

Who’s the fake cop?

Does he work for Scarpatti?

They turn the corner of an alley to find Sopranos extras crowding Baby.

Mr. Scarpatti wants to meet. Mr. Trench Coat tells the boys to get in the Impala. He’s driving. OH DEAN. My heart hurts for you.

They take off for a meet and greet with Scarpatti, while Sam and Dean’s mysterious stalker looks on in secret.

Ah, Scarpatti is auditioning for the next Bond movie, I see.

Scarpatti knows who the Winchesters are --they “died” several years ago. He also knows they’re working with Greenstreet, and makes his case about how he feels that he can give these religious relics a better home. Dean: “Technically, the relic had a home, and then you had it stolen.” Sam: *EPIC THROAT CLEAR*. Scarpatti wants to know why they’re working with Greenstreet, and Sam explains the exchange. Scarpatti had his own deal with Miele, but now Miele is dead and the skull is missing. Dean’s quite argumentative -but I guess he doesn’t have much to lose. These men are just men. Scarpatti tells the boys that if they find the skull, he’ll give them a handsome finders fee.

The boys head back to the hotel to start the hunt for the skull. They clear the hotel with some false fire alarms. Sam makes it back to Miele’s room and starts the search. He finds a slip of paper with some numbers on it --and gets knocked out by their mysterious follower!! Oh Sammy.

The man takes off and in the chaos outside the hotel, the fake cop is waiting and follows the man. Dean finds Sam on the floor.

They head outside where post-fire-alarm chaos reigns. Dean does a great job of mother-henning AND brotherly teasing and asks Sam how he’s doing with his latest head injury. Speaking of head injuries, they find the nefarious figure who knocked Sam out lying unconscious in the street. What goes around comes around amirite?

Cut to later where the Winchesters and Sam’s attacker resettle in the cushy hotel lounge. Sam's assailant reveals himself to be Father Lucca Camilleri who's been hired to recover the “brain basket” of Saint Peter. While they initially assume he'd planned to steal it back, Camilleri draws their attention to a suitcase full of money in all sorts of currencies. He explains the desperation of the nuns he's working for to get back the skull. He was sent to buy it back from the thief with everything they could scrape up. “The world's a screwed up place, padre,” Dean says. “What're you gonna do about it?”

“Change it,” Camilleri says, thereby setting up a kind of mission or thesis statement for one or both Winchesters (or possibly the entire TFW). He tells Dean that complaining about the imperfection of the world isn't an adequate excuse. They should improve things in any way they can. “The world will never be perfect. If good men do good things, the world can get better. Every day can get better.” (Boris: *Misha Collins feelings*)

Okay, so I just need to interrupt the recap here to RAVE ABOUT THIS SCENE. I sort of softly enjoyed this episode up until this point. The stylized takes were nice but nothing was making me roll around with wild excitement. And then we get this talk from Camilleri and it's so perfect for what's happening in the show: the looming war, the perceived need to ignore morals to win, and going even broader, monster hunting in general. It's a reminder to our main players to be better people, always. That's what sets them apart, after all. And for us viewers, it's a hopeful message applicable to life in general. I LOVE it. This moment is where this episode transcends mere homage and becomes its own creation.

The talk works on Sam nearly instantly. He's been searching for belief and hope and a mission for several episodes now. He offers to get the skull back for Camilleri. Dean's...not totally down with this plan, on account of the vicious mobsters and their own mission in jeopardy. Sam tries to get him to see reason. “If somebody stole the Impala, what would you do?”

“Murder. I'd murder 'em all,” Dean replies, dead fucking serious. Okay, Dean tell us how you really feel.

Oh! Dean’s still ranting. “There'd be torture first. There'd be like, a lot of torture...”

Aaaanyway, they figure out what the number on the paper was...a package tracking number. And they track it to a warehouse (of course). Just as they're about to head in, Margaret Astor pulls up. “Oh look, it's your girlfriend,” Dean taunts.

Inside, Astor prepares to sell the skull for a heftier price than the original deal. She had the first thief killed so she holds all the cards. Greenstreet swaggers in as further bidding competition for Scarpatti. Things get...cranky in the room. They pull out the skull.

Outside Dean and Camilleri wait for Sam to infiltrate the warehouse; Dean's phone is on speaker while they wait. Camilleri believes that God is looking out for them but Dean shoots this down and tells him God doesn't care. There are no miracles. Camilleri believes that all good things are godly, though and continues to talk to Dean in the vein of “do good things in the world.” He's...a really good dude. It's at this point in the evening when we get the sense that his blood will do just fine for the Winchesters' spell.

Meanwhile, Sam gets inside. He's got Camilleri's suitcase of money and he's ready to bid. Astor practically licks her lips upon seeing Sam again and the other parties display disgruntled attitudes about Sam trying to interject himself as a third party, rather than serving as Greenstreet's or Scarpatti's coerced agent. Astor hands out bidding slips to all the buyers.

Now that they know Sam’s in on the deal, Dean and Camilleri work their way inside, encountering some resistance.

“Is he okay?” Camilleri asks Dean, earning A LOOK. Dude, I love Camilleri’s transition from shadowy and probably nefarious to kind of an adorable sweetheart who probably sings to birds and has helper-squirrels clean his house.

Inside, the bidding begins.

Camilleri stays outside to pray for success while Dean heads inside to back up Sam. Everyone delivers their bids. Sam loses by a lot. Scarpatti bids millions and Greenstreet bids zero...because Cromarty's under his payroll. Cromarty kills Astor and a mad firefight ensues, taking out nearly everyone.

Camilleri heads inside, gets shot by Cromarty, but lives to tell the tale as the Winchesters finish the shootout. They find Greenstreet and ask him where to find the saint’s blood. Greenstreet admits that the blood doesn't exist. It's just a lie he told the Winchesters to get them to do his dirty work. Dean's pissed and punches him down. (Greenstreet is later arrested and taken in by police.)

Camilleri prepares to head home with the skull and his suitcase full of money when Sam asks him to explain a confusing title associated with Camilleri that he came across in his research. Camilleri smiles sweetly (DAMN how did he turn into such a fluffy bunny?) and explains that apostolic prothonotary supernumerary is just a silly little title and, oh, the pope gave him the title of the “most holy man.” Aaaaand....there it is.

Back at the bunker, Dean happily looks at the little vial of Camilleri’s blood on the table. “One down, three to go.” Sam strolls in for a little light conversation. In particular, he's been thinking about the hunter's curse: kill one monster and there's always another waiting. “You think we could ever change things?” Sam asks. Dean doesn't have an answer to that. If wishes were horses... Then Sam looks at the blood. “You think that will work?”

“I have faith,” Dean says. Yeah you do, my dude.

Boris: Yikes, this episode. I have double vision when thinking about it. This was a very solid, interesting, and fun episode. I really had to take a step back and just enjoy it for it being a beautifully shot, generic TV show. This could have been on CBS. I enjoyed it but it also felt very forgettable. I liked that they wanted to play with noir and genre movie themes. I respect the effort. This is not why I watch Supernatural. I guess TPTB are doing a solid job of giving fans episodes like 13x14 and the general audience episodes like 13x15? Tumblr’s been a ghost town this week though. Twitter is busy being grumpy about Scoobynatural. I want to flail and squee with others. This was an interesting filler episode that, I guess, proves they can still come up with interesting stories for just the brothers, but I feel like it just highlighted why that isn’t a good idea for the show anymore. The ending was solid and Camilleri was an excellent Cas stand in for the week though!

I Have Quotes:

Ah, the internet. Not just for porn anymore.

I have faith.

Now you're above a little chicanery?

You're like a boy scout. You're always prepared.

As they say at NASA, failure is not an option.

I know that Disney princess hair of yours gives you some padding...

When somebody's screwing me I like to look into their eyes.

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive!

[fullofleaves]

Hi! I've been a huge fan of your work for years now. :) I think you're one of the authors who understand the depth and complexity of Loki's character the most, and you have such an amazing way of portraying both his strong and vulnerable aspects in your stories. I was just wondering if you've seen Ragnarok and if you have some time, would you be willing to share with us your honest thoughts about it? (Particularly about Loki's character development from the first two Thor films to this one?)

Yoooo sorry for taking forever to answer this, but the true fact is I had to go see Ragarok again to formulate a proper answer.  But, wow, thank you so much!  I really love Loki’s character, and spend probably Way Too Much Time thinking about him, so this is a great question.

Anyway.  HAVE I SEEN RAGNAROK.  Short answer: YES.  Longer answer: YES I HAVE SEEN IT THREE TIMES NOW AND NEED TO GO AGAIN AT SOME POINT.  It’s a very important movie to me, given my love of A) Loki, B) Loki being stuck in absolutely stupid situations, and C) Thor throwing stuff at Loki’s head.  That said, it had a couple details didn’t love so much, but overall it was exactly the kind of shit I’m in to.  I mean like… you’ve read the crap I write so you could have probably guessed that already.  I live for Loki’s suspicious relationship with the Grandmaster and the orgy ship and everyone saying the word anus a few too many times and Bruce complaining about Tony’s tight pants.  And the play.  Sweet Jesus, the play.  A+ material.  A+.

But Loki’s character.  There’s so much that could be said here, and I’ve seen a lot of really good meta floating around already, so I’m going to stick to a couple key points.

I really like this version of Loki?  And I think it’s a good direction for his character to go.  In the first Thor movie you had him starting off as a mischievous character but not really “evil”, until everything in his world went to hell and he kind of lost his shit.  In Avengers, well, he’s Full Evil, killing people for funzies and generally fucking everything up.  In Dark world, I don’t think he actually repented at all sitting locked away in prison… until Frigga’s death.  This is the first time his actions have had a real consequence for him, and you can see the change it makes when he fights alongside Thor.  And now here I feel like he has, in some ways, almost come back to who he was in the beginning.

He’s not Evil.  He didn’t kill Odin when he easily could have.  As “Odin”, he didn’t kill Thor or have him banished or send him off on a death sentence of a quest, or even try to do anything like that.  It’s implied he just kept encouraging Thor to stay away from Asgard, giving him space to build ridiculous statues of himself and commission bad theater.  He’s Loki of Asgard again, but like… a more confident, evolved version.  He’s been through actual hell with the Chitauri, did the whole supervillain thing, and now he’s just hanging around pulling the greatest con Asgard has ever seen by pretending to be king.  He didn’t even kill Heimdall, who probably saw right through his illusion.  Just discredited him and sent him on his way.  The point is: no more killing (at least of anybody more important than a random alien lackey or undead soldier) and his leadership of Asgard is more IDGAF than villainous.  Like if anybody noticed anything weird, they probably attributed it to Odin going off the deep end after Frigga’s death, not “we’re obviously being conned by an evil mastermind”.

Side note: this whole Odin charade would have been going on for several years by the time Thor finally outed him.  I think it’s possible that by this time, on some level, he was almost relieved to be caught.  It looks like he’d been pushing things further and further to see how much dumb shit he could get away with, tempting fate.  He doesn’t seem that upset at the big reveal, so obviously kingship of Asgard wasn’t a critical position for him.  He was just doing it for the lulz and basking in his own successful scheme.

And then they go to Earth to pick up Odin, and I think this is really Loki’s first wake-up call in the movie.  He had to have been expecting either Odin to still be under his enchantment (and Thor will kick his ass), or for Odin to retaliate in some way (as Odin is famous for doing).  In either case, he would have been mentally preparing himself for a confrontation.  That doesn’t happen.  Odin accepts and forgives him, which throws his whole balance completely off.  Is he reassessing all of his life choices that led up to this moment and rethinking his entire worldview?  Probably not.  But he has to, at the very least, feel kind of shitty.  You can see that in how he stays absolutely silent throughout the entire scene.  Not even a single word of argument or a weak attempt to explain himself. It’s Loki’s special brand of remorse.  You know: the kind where you don’t have to apologize (and probably get mad when somebody tries to talk to you about it.)

Now for the next wake-up call, let’s consider that Loki landed on Sakaar weeks before Thor did.  And because he was kicked out of the Bifrost beam first, he had no idea how the fight between Thor and Hela ended.  Did Thor win?  Who knows?  From his vantage point, it looked like Hela was pretty savage and had a good chance at coming out ahead.  He had to consider the very real possibility that Thor was dead or otherwise out of the way.  And you’d think that somebody who professed to have such a desire to sit on the throne would do anything to find his way back to Asgard to see WTF was going on, but… he didn’t.  He stayed where he landed. I’m still trying to figure out his motivation behind this choice.  Waiting for the right opportunity?  Maybe.  But if he’d already stolen the security codes, what was stopping him from leaving?  I think it’s more likely that he’d given up (at least for the time being) and decided this was is life now.  It was his fault Odin died and Hela was released.  His fault Thor could very well be dead and Asgard destroyed.  Add Frigga’s death on top of that and I’m thinking he’s decided at this point that Asgard is better off without him.  

And you can see this in the infamous elevator scene.  Loki mentions wanting to stay on Sakaar, in what’s pretty obviously a setup for Thor to say “oh no brother you are way too important to me, we must stay together”.  And then he’d grudgingly agree.  Instead, Thor’s like “YEP, THIS HELLHOLE SURE IS PERFECT FOR A SACK OF DICKS LIKE YOU, LMAO.”  He asks if Thor really thinks so little of him, when he has to think so little of himself.  It’s kind of a crushing blow to hear that Thor agrees.

My opinion?  Loki wouldn’t have tried to betray Thor in the following scene if Thor had given him the answer and brotherly love he was looking for.  Like, he would’ve betrayed Thor eventually, because that’s what he does, but it’d probably be more like “Hey Thor now that we’ve saved Asgard, how about you go off and restore peace to the realms while I stay behind and definitely do nothing to undermine your authority and usurp power again”.  He knows Thor’s the only one who has a chance at defeating Hela, so it’s in his best interest to stay on that side of the equation.  It’s only when Thor turns him down that his Lokiness gets the better of him and decides to turn Thor in for the bounty and go his own way.

So why does he go back to Asgard?  Spite, probably.  I don’t think he ever specifically wants to be GOOD, per se.  He’ll always have a massive chip on his shoulder that’s giving him an excuse to be a stupid shit and ruin stuff for everyone, especially himself.  But I do think, at certain points, he has wanted to ACT good.  He wants to step up and do what’s right, either to prove something to himself (ie, killing Laufey) or to prove something to Thor (ie, showing up out of the mist with a giant spaceship to save the day).  That struck me as a real “you betrayed me but now I’m helping you, don’t you feel bad?” move.

Okay.  So.  Where does Loki’s character end up after all this?  Well there’s this really great post I’ve seen going around about how the existence of Hela helps him realize that, shit, maybe he’s not a Bad Guy.  Because if Odin’s own blood daughter can turn out that spectacularly fucked up, his own problems and hangups and crimes seem kind of paltry in comparison.  And I agree with this 100%.  Compared to Hela, he’s small potatoes.  Hela is now officially the Worst Child Ever and this has to make him feel better about himself.  It has to.  Before, Thor would probably complain to his friends about how terrible Loki was (in fact, he does just this when telling the snake story), but now?  Now Thor can complain to Loki about how terrible Hela is.  And Loki can be like, “Wow, yeah, she’s just off the fucking charts with Evilness.”  And then they bond with a fistbump, or whatever.

ANYWAY, the point of all this is…?  Loki goes through a lot in this movie, but I think he ends up in the right place.  I mean, obviously not geographically, because they’re about to be screwed up the ass by Thanos (I assume).  But he’s had a four-movie arc now, bouncing all over the place in terms of motivation and emotion, and it seems like he’s kind of… settled now?  He’s back where he started, at Thor’s side, but after all he’s been through I think he now has a better handle on what he wants for himself and where he thinks he belongs, as opposed to what others tell him he wants and where they say he belongs.  Maybe it’s just me wanting to see what I want to see, but he comes across as a character who’s more comfortable with himself.  Especially compared to the Loki who was lashing out so much in earlier movies.  He’s had his rebellious phase.  Now it’s time to start over rebuilding his relationship with his brother.